ALLEGATIONS THAT a senior staff member at the European Commission’s Dublin office intimidated co-workers are being investigated by Brussels officials.
The original complaints were made in April but commission officials did not visit Dublin until late last week, a Brussels-based news magazine has reported.
Dublin-based staff believe the delay may have been to avoid negative publicity before the Lisbon Treaty referendum, European Voice reported.
The European Commission has sent a mediator and an anti-discrimination expert to interview staff at its Dublin office following allegations that the senior staff member engaged in intimidating behaviour.
Four officials, including a senior Brussels official, visited the Dublin office on June 19th-20th, the commission has told The Irish Times.
A spokeswoman for the commission in Dublin confirmed that the visit had taken place.
A statement released from the office of Margot Wallström, the European commissioner with responsibility for the commission’s representations in member states, said the team included a senior official from the directorate-general for communication with a mediator specialising in anti-discrimination.
Staff in Dublin had not made a formal complaint under the commission’s staff rules on disciplinary proceedings, said Ms Wallstrom’s office.
A commission spokesman said the team was “seeing if there’s a problem and what can be done about it”.
European Voice, the Brussels-based weekly magazine that broke the story, said that staff in Dublin “complained about the behaviour of one colleague in April and have been frustrated at the slowness of the commission’s reaction”.
Citing an unnamed source, European Voice said the Dublin staff “believe that one reason for the delay in investigating was a desire to avoid negative publicity” ahead of the treaty referendum.