Plafond EU-parlement komt deels naar beneden (en)
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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU parliament officials have said that damage to the ceiling of the body's Strasbourg complex is less serious than initially feared.
A chunk of plaster measuring no more than 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres fell down in the Pierre Pflimlin office block on Saturday (12 December) following building work and heavy rain, the parliament's head of press, Marjory Van Den Broeke, said on Monday.
A senior parliament source had initially said the cave-in concerned three 25 square metre slabs of concrete.
The offices, which normally house communications staff, were empty. But the collapse took place 48 hours before MEPs and civil servants are due to arrive for the last plenary session of the year.
The building, named after a former parliament president from the 1980s, was inaugurated in 1991 at a cost of €38 million.
The Pflimlin incident comes after a 10-tonne chunk of the ceiling in the Strasbourg plenary chamber fell down in August 2008.
The Strasbourg seat has been a source of problems for MEPs in recent years.
In 2007 officials found alarming levels of asbestos. In 2006 it emerged that Strasbourg authorities had been overcharging the EU by millions of euros a year in rent for 25 years. In 2002 Legionnaires disease was found in the plumbing.