To the Secretary General of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions
R&D is writing to you to bring to your attention the raising concern of staff related to own personal security and road safety in the ‘quartier européen’ of Brussels and notably around our buildings.
EU employees have been attacked especially after working hours in metro stations or while driving in the traffic towards the institutions or on their way home. It has been also reported of parked cars vandalised in the streets nearby the institutions.
Road safety either has not increased yet, despite of promises and some interventions of the Belgian concerned autorities. To access the Committees buildings, notably across the Belliard street, could put pedestrians and bikers at risk.
R&D would like to ask you to take the opportunity of a forthcoming meeting of the Secretaries General of the European institutions as well as of any other appropriate meeting to claim the Belgian authorities of increasing the security of streets and metro stations, also after 6 pm when several colleagues are still leaving their offices. Road safety should equally remain at the top of your concern and we wish you notably ask for a re-organisation of the rue Belliard crossroads and pavements daily used by hundreds of colleagues which use public means and bikes to reach the office. Security and safety improvement would benefit not only the European colleagues, but also the general population of the area and it could encourage the staff to use public means and notably metro instead of the car according to the campaigns recently launched by both the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.
For R&D
Dimitrios KATSANIDIS and Raffaele DEL FIORE