20/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Bosse Ringholm, EcoFin President, declared on Friday at the beginning of the informal meeting of Malmo that "the American economy is becoming less and less important for Europe, as the EU's economy strengthens and that its dependence diminishes". He said this in answer to the statements of American Treasure of State Paul O'Neill, who said he was "intrigued" by the fact that the EU should have declared itself less vulnerable than the rest of the world to the economic slowdown. The European Central Bank did not react to O'Neill's message, which may be interpreted as a call for a cut in the key rates. Gerassimos Thomas, spokesman for Commissioner Pedro Solbes, said on Friday that he refused to react to Mr. O'Neill's statements. Saturday, work with the candidate countries should in particular relate to the economic situation in Turkey, which has adopted a new economic programme for overcome the current serious crisis.