(BRUSSELS) - Members of the European Parliament will hold another plenary session in Brussels this month as the normal Strasbourg chamber is still unsafe after a roof collapse, the assembly's president said Thursday.

President Hans Gert-Poettering's announcement was met with applause from the majority of EU lawmakers, many of them opposed to the regular trip to the French city for plenary sessions.

"Don't celebrate too quickly, it has also been found that rain is getting into parts of this building in Brussels," he told the deputies at the end of the first session held here since the Strasbourg building's roof fell in.

Some 10 tonnes of ceiling rubble dropped into the deserted chamber on August 7. The ceiling was quickly repaired but inspections revealed other problems with the building, erected just nine years ago.

More faults could be found, as only about half the building has been checked.

The incident has revived debated over whether the Strasbourg chamber, where 785 MEPs normally meet in plenary four days a month, is a waste of money and carbon dioxide emissions.

Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament despite the fact that MEPs are present only 48 days a year. They do much of their work in Brussels, near the headquarters of the other EU institutions.

The cost of moving the deputies and the roughly 3,000 assistants and translators there -- a regular pilgrimage set in stone in the EU's treaties -- has been estimated at around 200 million euros a year.

The assembly's next session is from September 22-25.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.