Brussels/Washington, 04/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - On a visit to Washington on Monday and Tuesday, Commissioner Pascal Lamy tried to ease tensions on trade matters against the backdrop of war looming in Iraq. However, stressing the fact that "current geopolitical circumstances" are leading both "elephants of the system" to manage their grievances "cautiously and in a spirit of co-operation", the man in charge of European trade policy was highly civil in urging Congress to speed up the many procedures underway to bring American legislation into line with World Trade Organisation judgements. There is a "problem of observance (respect) on the side of the Americans which, if the legislator continues to drag his feet in reviewing the half-dozen cases in the settlement procedure (from the FSC to the Byrd Amendment via authors' rights), risks damaging the credibility of the multilateral institution. "If the two pillars of the system cannot comply with each other, there's a problem with the system", he stated. Mr Lamy has refused to issue Washington with ultimatums, even in the Foreign Sales Corporations issue, where the European arm is over four billion dollars strong. "I will only use this if I am certain it will be of any use", he commented.