Policy Focus

Roof caves in on EU parliament building

Next month’s plenary in Strasbourg has been cast into doubt following the collapse of part of the parliamentary building in the Alsace city.

It comes after a large part of the ceiling of the huge hemicycle in Strasbourg collapsed, causing serious material damage.

Some of the building material fell on to the hemicycle below, which houses the monthly plenary session attended by nearly 800 MEPs, staff and civil servants.

A parliament spokesman said nobody was hurt in the incident, which is thought to have affected less than 10 per cent of the total surface area of the ceiling.

However, he said the whole area surrounding the hemicycle has been temporarily closed pending an "urgent" investigation by the parliamentary authorities in conjunction with the local French authorities and a number of external experts.

The spokesman said, “At this stage, the reasons for the collapse, which happened on 7 August, are not yet known. An external study is currently being conducted with a view to establishing the cause.

“Furthermore, the safety and security aspects of the hemicycle, as well as the technical matters linked to the running of the plenary, are being examined with the utmost caution.”

He said the necessary repair works to the hemicycle ceiling have already started, with the aim of holding the upcoming plenary session in Strasbourg starting the 1 September as normal.

He added, however, that this was “under the absolute condition that the security and safety as well as the technical functioning of the whole hemicycle can be guaranteed”.

The incident is the latest in a series of design faults that have befallen the Strasbourg parliament.

A few years ago, there was an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease in the building, which opened in 1999.

Shortly after its opening, the building was condemned as shabby, dark, difficult to navigate, with temperamental telecommunications and lifts. Even parliament’s then president Nicole Fontaine walked nine floors to her office rather than risk being trapped in one of the lifts.

This latest controversy is likely to add to the ongoing row over where the parliament should be based.