Brussels, 28/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - Mr Cravinho, President of the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (ECEP/CEEP), accompanied by Mr Cousquer, Vice-President, and Mr Plassmann, General Secretary, were received on 26 September by President Prodi. The meeting mainly covered the future of services of general interest, their essential role in achieving the objective that the Union had set itself in Lisbon and the need, according to the CEEP, to give them a formal and explicit framework at European level to take their specific nature into account. This theme will be discussed during a conference on 4 and 5 October in Brussels, jointly organised by the CEEP and the European Trade Union Confederation. Mr Prodi expressed his conviction that the services of general interest play an important role in the maintenance and the development of the European model, it is stated in a CEEP press release.