Accusations have long abounded about the old-boy’s network inherent in the EU’s infrastructure. But one of our readers has written in with this gem:
“Dear Berlaymonster, I have been employed at the European Parliament for several years. During this time I have noticed that all of my immediate colleagues are white and middle-class. Despite numerous meetings over the years with both the Council and the Commission, I can go weeks at a time without bumping into somebody who doesn’t fit this mould. What do you advise?”
And so we made a couple of inquiries – an informal straw poll amongst some of our colleagues. Whilst only a handful of them worked directly with non-whites, by far the most popular answer was “I think there’s a guy in IT who’s originally from Nigeria”.
It was widely assumed that the maintenance staff were all definitely not middle class.
And Berlaymonster is pleased to note that the Commission itself has outsourced its cleaning contracts to IRIS, a group who seem to employ almost exclusively folk of North African origin.
Ivory Towers? You decide …