EU Commission building remains closed after fire 08:37, May 20, 2009 The European Commission building continued to be closed on Tuesday and no date is set for reopening after a fire broke out early Monday afternoon in the building, the commission said. A fire broke out in the Berlaymont building on Monday. The fire alarm sounded and 2,700 employees, including Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, were evacuated immediately. "The Berlaymont building will remain closed today for security and safety reasons. Firefighters have now finished their work, and Commission services are looking to re- establish essential services as soon as possible," a short statement from the commission said. The commission did not give any causes for the blaze nor the date for reopening the building. Sources say that the fire occurred in the basement print room and spread to the top floor via a wiring shaft. The European Commission is one of the three major institutions of the European Union, which also include the European Parliament and the European Council. The Berlaymont building got its name after the Dames du Berlaymont, the convent that occupied its site until 1960. In 1966,the construction of the building started and later it becomes a symbol of the EU presence in Brussels. Renovation work began in the summer of 1995 and the work took 13 years, five years longer than it took to build. The December 1998 handover date was delayed five times. The building was handed over to the EU commission in stages, starting from July 1, 2004 with civil servants moving back just before the start of the Barroso Commission, with their related cabinets and a total of 2,700 civil servants. "Source:Xinhua" .