Inquiry starts after Berlaymont breach

By Martin Banks

Date: 30/09/04

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after detailed plans of the European Commission's Berlaymont headquarters were found dumped in rubbish bins nearby.

Hundreds of the documents, showing details of the interior of the distinctive star-shaped building, were found yesterday (29 September) stuffed into 12 bins towards the rear of the Résidence Palace.

It is the second time in nine months that plans for the Berlaymont have been found in a public place.

In January, European Voice revealed that a similar set of documents had been dumped in the underground car park of the Résidence Palace, home of the International Press Centre.

Marked "Rénovation de l'immeuble Berlaymont", the documents show interior plans of various parts of the 13-storey, 240,000 square metre building. When they were found, public access to the bins was unimpeded.

The Berlaymont is to be officially re-opened on 20 October, after an expensive 13-year renovation, and will become the headquarters of the new Commission administration.

The Commission has launched a formal inquiry into how the sensitive documents came to be at the Résidence Palace.

Until recently, some of the 60 contractors involved in the Berlaymont's renovation had offices in the building, which is owned by the Belgian government.

It also contains offices of the building control inspectorate for the Brussels region.

Stephen Hutchins, acting director of the Commission's security directorate, said: "I have launched an investigation, because this sort of thing simply should not happen. We need good, safe controls when dealing with such material so, clearly, it is cause for real concern that they [the plans] should have, apparently, been disposed of in a public place.

"I shall now want to find out why they were handled in such a way and then decide what, if any, action should be taken."

Luc Kint, chief executive of Berlaymont 2000, the company responsible for the renovation, described the lapse in security as "unacceptable".

He said: "After the first incident earlier this year, I sent a letter to all the contractors involved expressing my concern so, obviously, I am not happy that the same thing has happened again."

A Commission spokesman described the nature of the plans' discovery as "unfortunate", but claimed that initial inquiries seemed to indicate they were out of date.

He added: "We are happy that our security arrangements for the Berlaymont are state-of-the-art."

Bullet-proof windows, retractable bollards and a heavy armoured gate at the VIP entrance on Boulevard Charlemagne attest to serious concerns about security.

The latest incident was described as a "remarkably careless" potential security lapse by UK MEP Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament.

He said: "In an age of a heightened terrorist threat, when security should be uppermost in people's minds, it seems incredible that no one has invested in a document shredder.

"Clearly, it could pose a security risk if such plans fell into the wrong hands," added Watson.

An investigation was launched after detailed plans of the European Commission's Berlaymont headquarters were found dumped in rubbish bins nearby on 29 September 2004.