Sant demands ‘definited dateline’ for exit from EU’s asbestos offices

Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has protested the European Commission’s omission for a deadline to leave the Jean Monnet Building in Luxembourg which houses 1,700 employees, 50 of whom are Maltese nationals.

All are directly exposed to the presence of asbestos inside the offices.

The Commission confirmed that four cases of asbestos exposure have been recognised as professional illnesses among EC employees stationed in the Jean Monnet Building.

Reacting to the Commission’s statement, Sant said the EC was taking too long to deal with the asbestos problem at Jean Monnet. “It should have set the example by putting as its topmost priority the safeguarding of its employees.”

Sant said that he will asking the Commission for a definite dateline for the abandonment of the Jean Monnet Building and that he will continue to follow the matter very closely.

The Commission answered Sant’s concerns six months later, when it is the norm for the Commission to answer PQs not later than six weeks after receipt of the PQs.

Sant had asked on 8 December 2014 why it took the Commission 20 years to move its employees out of the Jean Monnet Building and whether a definite date had been set by which the Commission plans to have moved moved all its employees from the building.

He also asked how many cases of asbestos exposure had been recognised among Commission employees in the building.

EC Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva said that like most buildings of the 1970s, the Jean Monnet building  contains a number of asbestos applications, which did not present identified risks until recently.

During the summer of 2013, an incident took place in the print shop during maintenance work, which resulted in a release of asbestos fibres. In the light of this incident, the Commission proceeded with an update of the asbestos inventory, which was then completed in November 2013.

The main outcome of this update was that a certain form of asbestos present in the Jean Monnet building had to be considered in the future as brittle due to ageing problems.

Several in-depth studies were conducted, leading to the decision to abandon the building. This decision was taken by the EC in July 2014 in agreement with the Luxembourgish authorities.

Georgevia said that immediately after the EC decision to abandon the building was taken in mid-July 2014, all services started to work, in close cooperation with the Luxembourgish authorites, in order to identify alternative buildings to relocate the staff present in the Jean Monnet building.

The EC has progressed in identifying the premises for this relocation as well negotiating the cost-sharing and organisational modalities of this operation together with the Luxembourgish authorities. The objective is to leave the building as soon as possible and all possible efforts are deployed to accelerate that process.