If you’ve had to attend an outdoor event — or, worse still, an indoor event with no air conditioning — during the heat wave that has gripped much of Europe this week, you’ve probably regretted it.

Spare a thought for attendees of a groundbreaking ceremony for a medical facility just outside Ljubljana, Slovenia, which was held in a giant, sweltering tent. Before Prime Minister Robert Golob, bravely wearing a buttoned-up suit and tie, took to the stage, organizers announced medics were on hand to deal with emergencies.

Meanwhile, in Sintra, Portugal, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde began her organization’s annual research conference by imploring guests to drink plenty of water and to avoid overloading the medical center.

It’s not just conferences and events that have been suffering; so have tourists. The Eiffel Tower was partially closed due to high temperatures, as was Brussels’ iconic Atomium.

While most event planners have been begging people to stay hydrated, we commend those coming up with outside-the-hotbox solutions. Sweltering journalists in the greenhouse-like atrium at last week’s European Council summit in Brussels were given ice creams — a trick repeated in Belgium’s Merksplas prison, where aging infrastructure has left inmates overheated.

The reason people are so worried is that the heat can be deadly. Slovenia will experience a high level of excess deaths due to the heat; Portugal recorded its highest-ever June temperature (46.6 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday; and in Belgium, the average temperature in June was 2.6 degrees higher than average. Temperatures in Brussels reached 35 degrees on Thursday.

Aircon politics

France has numerous regions on red alert for heat, over 1,000 schools closed, and an elevated risk of wildfires. Prime Minister François Bayrou attended a crisis meeting about the heat on Tuesday.

It’s perhaps fitting, then, that there’s a heated debate raging about air conditioning. The far-right National Rally’s Marine Le Pen said there should be a plan to install more aircon around the country, and railed against “so-called elites” who already benefit from it.

“It’s crazy to tell families to stop working from one day to the next because schools can’t take our kids anymore, while telling them to go to the local movie theater, which is air-conditioned,” she said on X.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, minister for ecological transition, fired back, saying that aircon is an “inadequate adaptation,” pointing out that it is overall a net generator of heat. Air conditioning contributes significantly to climate change.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, and it is poorer people who suffer the most during heat waves. They’re not the most likely to benefit from an expansion in use of air conditioning, though, according to Carsten Schneider, Germany’s environment minister.

“Heat makes the social imbalance particularly noticeable,” Schneider said Tuesday. “Those with less money are less able to protect themselves from the effects of the heat. Those with a lot of money can afford air conditioning or a cooling garden.”

Mari Eccles, Geoffrey Smith, Sonya Angelica Diehn, Gabriel Gavin, Hanne Cokelaere and Laura Hülsemann contributed to this report.