Brussels, 06/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - The American government has understood the message it received on Wednesday from the European Commission, regarding the dispute on CSF (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12). It is clear that by presenting a proposal recommending the gradual introduction of trade measures, and this only from 1 March next year, the Commission intends to play the conciliation game and give Washington time to close the legislative process of reforming the CSF system. Richard Mills, the spokesperson to American Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, said: "Given the EU's insistence on conformity to WTO rules, we were expecting them to work with us on this issue, not start retaliatory measures". Tom DeLay, leader of the Republican majority in Congress, has voiced his doubts on the latter's ability to act within the given time-frame due to a packed parliamentary schedule (and Rockwell Schnabel, American Ambassador to the EU, has stated that Europe's procedure "does not help us much", given this heavy workload in Congress).