Brussels, 11/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the meeting of the committee on safeguard measures at which the European Commission will be informing Member States of the US measures concerning steel imports, Commissioners Erkki Liikanen (Enterprise) and Pascal Lamy (Trade) assessed the impact of the US measures in the late afternoon on Tuesday with representatives of the EU steel industry and steel workers. The meeting in Brussels was attended by Guy Dollé, President of Eurofer; Francis Mer, Chairman of Arcelor; Ulrich Middelman, Chairman of Thyssenkrupp Steel; Fabio Riva, Vice-President of Riva Group; and Reinhard Kuhlmann, General Secretary of EFM (the European Federation of Metalworkers). Industry and trade union representatives alike called for effective action. Erkki Liikanen said that "the European steel industry is now fully competitive, it does not receive any state aid and the EU market is completely open. This is all due to the heavy restructuring process that the European industry has undergone. We therefore cannot accept that the US unilateral protectionist measure targets the European industry. We will do our utmost to protect or industry and its workers against their wholly unfair decision by the United States". Pascal Lamy added "We cannot stand by and allow an industry that has gone through hell and high water to become among the most competitive in the world, suffer the consequences of illegal measures by the US. We stand shoulder to shoulder on this". The EU will be formally complaining against the measures taken by the United States at the World Trade Organisation and took the first steps in the process on 7 March (see EUROPE of 6 March, p.6 and also p.17 of this issue for the statements made by US Under-Secretary for trade, Grant Aldonas). Against the backdrop of the Health Council, the President of the Council Anna Maria Bitules said that Spain favoured the taking of safeguard measures by the European Union.