Brussels, 26/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Commissioners Monti (competition and State aid), Liikanen (enterprise and the information society) and Busquin (research) took part, on 26 October in Genval near Brussels, in an informal meeting devoted to the reduction and redirection of State aid. By organising this meeting, the Belgian EU Council Presidency hoped to "initiate a concerted approach between the Member States, with the support of the Commission, aimed on one hand at reducing the general level of public aid granted to enterprise and, on the other, at redirecting the aid systems towards the pursuit of horizontal aims". The aim of the meeting is to ensure follow-up regarding implementation of the conclusions of the Stockholm Summit, by ensuring that the efforts made by the Member States to reduce the overall level of public aid in the run up to 2003 mainly concern the least effective kinds of aid and aid that is the most harmful to competition. Participants sought, with this in mind, to identify aid that can contribute to the strengthening of European competitiveness and to a healthy environment for enterprise, mainly SMEs.