Strasbourg, 13/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - By 28 to 2 last week, the European Parliament adopted the draft resolution on the Commission's ninth report on state aid in the EU, prepared by German Social Democrat Bernhard Rapkay that welcomes the granting of less state aid in the EU from 1997 to 1999 in line with the objectives set at the Stockholm European Council. The EP calls on the Commission to pursue a hardline policy in this connection and for Member States to translate the Stockholm pledges into reality by cutting and retargeting state aid. Following on from this, the EP calls on the Commission to more effectively enforce decision on the reimbursement of illegal state aid. Welcoming the establishment of a register and the state aid scorecard, which will lead to greater transparency, the EP suggests setting up a type of chat-room where all stakeholders can exchange experience and views based on the information contained in the scorecard. In terms of the economic difficulties facing airlines, the EP calls on the Commission to carefully study all the requests to authorise aid since they should be targeted and timely, and also wants the Commission to closely monitor aid to US airlines. For the steel industry, it calls for proposals to be published as soon pas possible on extending the monitoring scheme for state aid set out in the relevant code of conduct to ensure genuine monitoring of such aid. The EP also wants the Commission to provide more detailed general information about the aims of such aid, the areas covered and the beneficiary companies.