Brussels, 09/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will be holding its seminar on EU industrial policy on Wednesday, an exercise that has already been amply covered in this bulletin (see EUROPE of 6 July, p.3, and 8 and 9 July, p.3). The seminar was prepared during a meeting of the economic analysis group, on 24 June, attended by Commission President Romano Prodi, Commissioners Pascal Lamy (trade), Erkki Liikanen (enterprise and information society), Mario Monti (competition) and Pedro Solbes Mira (economic and monetary affairs), senior Commission officials like Ricardo Franco Levi, Director of the group of political advisers, as well as representatives of economic and academic circles. Discussions mainly bore on the impact of globalisation and enlargement on the manufacturing sector as well as on the policies and instruments to be implemented to face up to this. Participants reached the conclusion that, whatever the impact of enlargement, it would remain "manageable". On the other hand, they felt that globalisation could have much deeper and larger effects for the EU, but that tariffs and State aid were no answer for avoiding a future of "de-industrialisation". Participants also agreed that the Commission had a specific responsibility in the drafting of guidelines and the mobilisation of energies allowing Europe to define its position towards the external world. President Prodi said "there may be room for some ambitious initiatives, to this respect. We can do it, in a social cohesion way: the question now is what to do and how".