22/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - Last Friday, the Corriere della sera indicated that four European Commissioners - Mario Monti (competition), Philippe Busquin (research), Erkki Liikanen (enterprise) and Frits Bolkestein (internal market) - answered on 16 March with a two-page letter to three Italian Ministers - Rocco Buttiglione (Community policies), Antonio Marzano (productive activities) and Letizia Moratti (education) - who had requested the possibility of examining the exclusion of investments for research and infrastructure from the deficit calculation for Member States in the context of the Growth and Stability Pact. According to the newspaper, the Commissioners did not really answer the request put by the Italian Ministers but were keen to express their appreciation of the importance given by the Italian government to research, strengthening human resources in this area, the spirit of enterprise, innovation and modernisation of industrial policy. The Commissioners also emphasise that the Italian presidency during the second half of this year, will face multiple challenges concerning innovation research, the spirit of enterprise, the internal market and other themes linked to competitiveness.