Brussels, 07/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - President of the European Parliament Josep Borell, who agreed to meet Mittal Steel President Lakshmi Mittal on 7 February in Brussels, said that the Mitall take-over bid of Arcelor confirms the need for developing a debate over the next few weeks at the European Parliament on the “major subjects that concern citizens and the economy of the European Union”. President Borrell explained in a press release that “Mr Mittal wanted to meet in order to explain to me the content of his industrial project as well as its economic and social consequences. I am aware of this take-over bid and the social concerns it has created for the workers of a large European industrial group, Arcelor, which employs almost 80,000 people on European Union territory. I listened to Mr Mittal and I would like to listen to all the parties involved in the matter, such as the Arcelor representatives and the different union organisations. In this connection, I am due to be meeting with representatives from the European Federation of Metalworkers (see other article). The European Parliament, has, in effect, to be a place for debate on the major subjects concerning citizens and the economy of the European Union. I intend, with the agreement of all the interested parties, to promote this debate at our institution in the next few weeks.
On Tuesday in an address to the press, Borrell announced that he was going to inform the Conference of Presidents of the Political Groups at the EP about his meeting with Mr Mittal. The presidents will then decide on how to organise a debate on this issue during the plenary session next week (EUROPE 9125). Mr Borrell acknowledged that there was no unanimity on this point. In the context of his meeting with the Indian magnate, Borrell underlined that Mr Mittal was currently preparing an “industrial plan” for his project to take over Arcelor and that this plan was not expected to put jobs in Europe at risk. Mr Borrell explained that Mr Mittal had also requested that the European Parliament wait for the industrial project to be released before it debated the take-over bid, so that it would have all the facts at hand.