Berlaymont saga continues

Date: 11/07/1996

Meanwhile, back at the Berlaymont, all is not going well.

The story so far: This mysterious shrine to the European Commission has been empty and shrouded in ghostly white raiment ever since Union experts decided that the fact that the building was packed with asbestos was incompatible with the stated aims of the EU's environmental policy. Work has been going on ever since to strip the building and make it habitable for the possible return of the Commission one day.

Now read on: Work was halted in April and May when a sudden downpour of 'snow' in the area turned out to be dubious substances. An air quality alert was sounded.

Now work has been stopped once again because of the impending bankruptcy of Paramount NV, one of the companies involved in the job. Workers went on strike because, they said, they had not been paid since the beginning of June. They stopped workers employed by the other three partners in the asbestos-clearing association from entering the site.

A spokeswoman for the association stressed that only one partner was pulling out and said the rest of the team were now holding talks with the strikers.

Tune in next week when the asbestos is found to be harmless after all, the Commission returns to the building and Europe's citizens decide in the first-ever EU-wide referendum to keep the shroud in place for the rest of eternity...