The European Commission is to follow the lead of the European Parliament and hold its first session of the autumn in Brussels, rather than Strasbourg, following a ceiling collapse in the parliament's French home, officials said Friday.

The first autumn meeting of the European Union's executive will take place as scheduled on September 2, but will be held in Brussels rather than Strasbourg "given that the European Parliament will also be holding its plenary session exceptionally in Brussels," commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said.

The announcement follows Thursday's decision by the parliament to move its first autumn plenary session to Brussels, after part of the suspended ceiling of its Strasbourg chamber collapsed on August 7.

The parliament traditionally holds its plenary sessions in Strasbourg, a town on the border between France and Germany which the two countries have often fought over, as a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. It holds commission sessions in Brussels.

During plenary weeks, the commission, which is based in Brussels, travels en masse to Strasbourg, complete with staff, spokesmen and lorry-loads of documents.

Parliamentary officials say that they hope the body will be able to return to Strasbourg for its second plenary session at the end of September.

However, jokes now circulating in Brussels indicate that that hope is not shared by many in the city, where the regular move to Strasbourg is widely condemned as a waste of time, money and resources.

According to unofficial estimates, the monthly move to Strasbourg costs the EU some 200 million euros (296 million dollars) per year.