The governing body of the European Union has been accused of holding a neo-feudalist mindset after it was reported that only certain areas of its building in Brussels kept air conditioning running during last week’s record-breaking heatwave.
According to a POLITICO report, the EU Commission’s Berlaymont building in Brussels turned off air conditioning on floors one through seven last week “due to extreme weather conditions”.
However, the outlet claimed that air conditioning remained on for floors eight through 13, where EU President Ursula von der Leyen and her 26 commissioners work.
This led to accusations that the unelected Eurocrats were prioritising their own comfort over the working people who staff the building.
One official who works on the bottom floors remarked, “It’s like feudalism,” while another employee said that it was a “disgrace”.
However, one staffer on the eighth floor claimed they did not fare much better, saying temperatures on the floor still reached 25.7°C (78.26°F) on Friday.
Nevertheless, the report has sparked criticism for the Commission, including from a left-wing Member of the European Parliament for Belgium, Marc Botenga, who said that the “contempt” shown for its own civil servants illustrates an overall “lack of respect for workers”.
The lack of air conditioners throughout much of Europe, including Belgium, where only a fifth of houses have ACs installed, has become a heated political discussion over the past week as temperatures soared across the continent.
While right-wing populist parties, such as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, have called for large investments in installing air conditioners, some on the left have warned that this would only exacerbate climate change.
The outdated infrastructure in Europe can be dangerous, particularly for elderly citizens. According to the Barcelona Institute for Global Health research centre, there were more than 62,700 heat-related deaths in Europe during the summer of 2024, and over 181,000 between 2022 and 2024.
In contrast, during the entirety of 2024, 44,447 people lost their lives to gun shootings in the United States, over half of which, 27,593, were suicides.