Brussels, 17/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Strasbourg last Thursday under the chairmanship of Bartho Pronk (EPP, NL), the EP/Trade Union Intergroup held an exchange of views on European industrial policy (see our column "A Look Behind the News" on 7 February). On the trade union side, the Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Jean Lapeyre, criticised the Commission's communication on "industrial policy in an enlarged Union", regretting its "very liberal vision and the fact that public intervention is reduced to no more than market adjustment". Also, Jean Lapeyre continued, a reference to social dialogue and negotiation is missing. He reproaches the Commission with basing itself solely on a voluntary corporate policy, which was not the case for Jacques Delors' White Paper. "This form of self-regulation appears as a swindle", he exclaimed, noting several missing key areas in passing, such as sustainable development, the role of general interest services, and assessment of what has been done since the beginning of European industrial policy. Rainer Kuhlman, General Secretary of the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF), considers the "Commission, after having recently focused on trade, among other things, has again turned to industrial policy, which is a good thing". Mr Kuhlman drew attention to the fact that the content of industrial policy has changed over some twenty years since the time when it meant "granting subsidies to declining industries, whereas today what is wanted is viable industry without subsidies". According to Mr Kuhlman, "if we want to have a real industrial policy, then we should not only focus on SMEs but also on large companies". He announced the holding, on 16 and 17 May, in Brussels, of a trade union conference on EU industrial policy. On the EP side, British Labour member Eryl McNally, also, regretted that the Commission's communication did not contain any assessment of what had been done over the last fifteen years. By way of conclusion, Jean Lapeyre pointed out that there should not be impasse concerning the three dimensions of industrial policy: the social, economic and environmental dimensions.