BRUSSELS — Senior civil servants leading Europe’s digital transformation need to wear a suit, bring a paper notepad and speak only when spoken to at meetings, according to bosses in Brussels.
A memo seen by POLITICO that was sent to staff at DG CONNECT, which oversees the digital economy, said concerns had been expressed about the conduct of officials attending sit-downs with leadership, including from Director-General Roberto Viola and aides to technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen.
As a result, the department has drawn up a new code of conduct “after complaints by the Cabinet and by Roberto himself” that will apply to mid-level and senior staff joining meetings to take notes, according to the memo.
“Notetaking [is] to happen using pen and paper, no electric devices are to be used for this purpose,” the email to the tech experts reads, while warning those sitting in on talks “not to speak during meetings, except of course for introducing themselves when hands are shaken or answering questions when they are asked something.”
Officials taking part in internal sessions with other departments have also been ordered “to attend meetings properly dressed — men should were [sic] a tie,” according to the email.
While two staffers granted anonymity blasted their bosses’ directive, a third DG CONNECT official said banning electronic devices was “not uncommon” when discussing security issues and it was to be expected that scruffy bureaucrats be told to smarten up.
“We are having more meetings with [Virkkunen] and the Cabinet than under [former Commissioner Thierry] Breton, so we needed to clarify a bit the dress code,” that official added.
Virkkunen — and her top civil servant Viola — have sought to take on American tech firms and overseen probes against firms like Elon Musk’s X for potentially falling foul of EU digital content laws.
A Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the leaked correspondence.
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