Brussels, 19/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Last Wednesday the European Commission decided that the exemptions granted by the USA to the European steel industry of 8-30% for surcharges imposed since last March on imported steel were "manifestly insufficient". On Friday evening it decided, however, to not recommend that Member States adopt sanctions on the USA at next Monday's General Affairs Council but to postpone the decision till 30 September. According to Peter Carl, Director General of DG Trade, the Commission had received, "quite firm guarantees - including a clear written decision - that the exemption process will be worked out equitably" until the end of August, the date which the US arranged as the deadline for exemption requests. The fact that the Commission was informed on Friday morning by the US of a new series of exemptions on a volume of 99,000 tons (EUR 60 million) probably affected their decision "to not complicate matters", as described by Mr Carl. This playing for time will also allow the Commission to avoid being subjected to a serious set back in the Council where a minority block exists which is against sanctions (Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark), whereas most Member States fear a face-off with the US will occur. This does not include France, which supports the principle of sanctions but is not too much in a hurry to see them applied.