Luxembourg seen as potential home for food agency

Date: 01/02/01

By Simon Taylor

The planned EU food safety agency could be set up in Luxembourg as part of moves to streamline the European Commission's presence in the Grand Duchy.

Reform Commissioner Neil Kinnock this week set out options for reorganising the EU executive's offices in Luxembourg, calling for "large, coherent and stable departments" at the Kirchberg site and stressing the "logistical and organisational advantages" of locating a new agency there.

Officials said this could include the planned European Food Safety Authority, which is due to start work later this year. In his paper Kinnock highlighted Luxembourg's location at the "geographical heart" of Europe as well as its good transport links.

Kinnock's plans have already run into opposition from staff unions which held their first strike this week in protest at his alleged failure to consult them over plans for a move. Officials from the largest staff organisation, Union Syndicale, claimed that 80% of permanent staff at the Commission's offices in Luxembourg had stopped work. The Commission put the figure at half that amount.

Pierre Blanchard, Union Syndicale's secretary-general, said the most negative of Kinnock's options for staff was to place a new agency in Luxembourg.

The Commissioner will hold a meeting with staff representatives tomorrow (2 February) to launch consultations on the future of Luxembourg.

The planned EU food safety agency could be set up in Luxembourg as part of moves to streamline the European Commission's presence in the Grand Duchy.