Skeleton staff prepares to take the August heat

Date: 01/08/1996

AUGUST is a wicked month.

Just when EU minds are focused on faraway holiday thoughts, it has a disconcerting tendency to remind people that the rest of the world operates to a different rhythm.

France, Belgium and Sweden may traditionally close down in July but, since its very early days, the Union has taken its main annual break in August. No meetings are scheduled and only a skeleton staff stays behind on permanence to keep the EU slowly ticking over.

For years, officials working in or around the European institutions in August enjoyed a leisurely, if somewhat lonely, existence.

A late start to the day was matched by an early departure from the office in the afternoon. The Commission held its daily briefing for the handful of journalists who stayed behind in a small office instead of opening up its press room - and the main challenge facing those left in Brussels over the summer break was to find a restaurant open for lunch.

But the pace changed in 1990. Former Commission President Jacques Delors, for instance, had a fax installed in his French holiday home so that he could keep in constant touch with Brussels.

Since then, August has proved conclusively that the rest of the world is not conveniently put on hold for a month just to allow European civil servants and their entourage to enjoy an uninterrupted four-week holiday.

That change has come about essentially because of growing political instability in key areas of the world and the activities of round-the-clock financial markets sceptical of the Union's ability to achieve monetary union.

“You cannot write August out of the calendar. Invariably something happens, occasionally it is something rather big, and more likely than not it is in the external policy field,” says one senior official with experience of being on permanence in August.

The day after the Commission held its last pre-summer holiday meeting in 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In the following year, August saw the explosion of violence in former Yugoslavia, followed within weeks by an attempted coup against former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1993, the Union was rocked by a crisis in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) which wreaked havoc on plans to keep currencies aligned. Last year, furious arguments raged throughout the month over French President Jacques Chirac's controversial nuclear testing programme in the South Pacific.

And on at least two occasions - in 1990, with the prospect of German reunification in sight, and in 1993, as the ERM came under threat - Commissioners have been called back to Brussels' headquarters for emergency meetings.

As a result, all the EU institutions have now become more adept at ensuring a structure is in place to cope with the unexpected.

The Commission, for example, makes sure that at least one A2 director is in charge every week in each department and every Commissioner's Cabinet has a member present in Brussels during August. Commissioners and senior officials are also required to leave forwarding addresses and telephone numbers so they can be contacted if necessary.

“The place does not close down like it used to in the early 1980s. Secretary-General David Williamson now signs out a detailed permanence list and makes sure every area is covered,” says one senior official.

The Commission system is, however, not foolproof.

“What has struck me is how Cabinet members may change from week to week and that means a lack of continuity, especially when there is a key crisis. It is not a perfect arrangement,” says one August veteran.

MEPs have also been recalled from their summer holidays on at least two occasions this decade. At the push of a button, the European Parliament can send telegrams to all of its 626 members and has installed a courier system to ensure they receive any necessary paperwork.

New technology is now being increasingly used by MEPs and their officials to ensure that their absence from Brussels in August does not necessarily mean they are out of touch with events.

Socialist group press officer Tony Robinson explains: “With mobile phones and laptop computers, you can be in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world at any time. We essentially operate a triangular structure involving the group leader Pauline Green, the Secretary-General Joan Cornet Prat and myself, and can very quickly give a Socialist view on world events.”

The main focus for the Council of Ministers is to ensure its comprehensive system of telegrams between member states continues to function smoothly throughout the summer break.

But with the deadline for a single currency looming ever closer, several governments - notably the Spanish - have recently indicated that they will be cutting short their traditional August holidays in order to work on the measures needed to boost their chances of qualifying for EMU.

Even the more junior advisory bodies, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, have a skeleton staff on duty.

The prize for enjoying the summer break to the full must go to judges at the European Court of Justice. Their legal recess stretches from mid-July to early September.

For people left working in Brussels during August, there are a number of definite advantages.

“I enjoy it. You can catch up on a lot of work and you have time to think without being constantly interrupted by meetings and telephone calls,” says one senior official.

The adrenaline also flows faster, with fewer bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way when action is required.

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Union broke all records in the speed with which it adopted the measures needed to implement an effective trade embargo. This was partly achieved by using the experience it had gained a decade earlier with similar measures imposed on Argentina after its invasion of the Falkland Islands, but also - and more importantly - by the efficiency of the small team involved.

“Like in any bureaucracy, you can get more done more quickly with a small team as policy does not have to go through numerous meetings. If you have the right people around in the right place, the system can be efficient,” explains one official.

Commissioners themselves can also get a kick out of running the institution on their own during August. There is always one on duty in Brussels and someone who invariably does a stint is Belgian Commissioner Karel Van Miert, largely because the task does not take him far from his Belgian home. But others also take their turn at the helm - and some positively relish it.

“Some Commissioners really love the task and positively blossom in it. Every Commissioner wants to be a foreign minister and to meet ministers and ambassadors. In August, they get their chance,” commented one observer.

There are also the pleasures of living in Brussels when it is not crowded and, for Belgians, the chance to reclaim their city from the expatriots.

“Belgian officials tend to take their holidays in July if they can and then enjoy Brussels in August. It is also a nice time to travel in the city. A car journey which would take 40 minutes at other times of the year takes half that in August,” says one official.

As EU officials pack their bags, some are already speculating on possible events which might disturb their August relaxation.

The continuing ill health of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the risk of further acts of terrorism or a new round of currency instability are among those mentioned on the end-of-term cocktail party circuit.

Any one of these could see senior staff scuttling back to Brussels.