Overview
- An urgent staff text sent on Friday said the European Commission forced a shutdown of the air-cooling system on floors 1 to 7 of the Berlaymont for the rest of the day, leaving many lower-floor workers without functioning cooling.
- Upper floors, including the president’s office and most commissioners’ suites, kept their systems running, prompting anger from lower-level staff who described the split as unfair and compared it to “feudalism.”
- The shutdown follows days of record temperatures across Belgium and Europe that have pushed cooling demand so high it caused blackouts at the European Parliament and led Belgium’s rail operator to cancel peak services on trains without air-conditioning.
- The Commission had issued practical guidance to staff earlier in the week on avoiding peak outdoor heat, drinking water, and shifting work hours, while taking ad hoc operational steps to reduce strain on building energy systems.
- The episode underscores how low air-conditioning coverage in European homes and transport makes institutions vulnerable during prolonged heat and could increase pressure for upgrades to cooling, energy planning, and staff protections.