EUROPEAN Commission officials are being told to beware of the charms of Mata Hari-type interns, accused of trading sex for the innermost EU secrets.
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Paranoid Brussels security officials fear that Eurocrats might be susceptible to the "pretty trainee with the long legs and the blonde hair". Every year hundreds of "stagiares", or interns, work at the commission's headquarters. Many are young and female.
Other covers said to be assumed by spies or agents, hired by industry or foreign powers, include people who have day-to-day contact with European Union officials, such as lobbyists or journalists.
"Like any large-scale organisation which deals with sensitive or confidential information, there are always people who endeavour to gain access to this information," said a commission spokesman. "It could be the pretty trainee with the long legs and the blonde hair."
A confidential memorandum sent by Stephen Hutchins, the director of security, warned that "the threat of espionage is increasing day by day".
Geoffrey Van Orden, a Tory MP in the European Parliament and former Intelligence Corps brigadier, expressed surprise. "Even if there were any [secrets], the EU's institutional culture is such that they would not be secret for long, as the leaking of this memorandum shows."
One stagiare suggested the idea of glamorous female spies might be more about male fantasy than reality. "I think men working here in boring jobs would love to believe that sexy women spies were after their bodies and their secrets. I personally think it is unlikely," said Petra, a 24-year-old from a Baltic nation.
Telegraph, London
