'European Parliament must discuss Mittal's bid'

Mittal has been meeting with governments in stakeholder countries during the last few days and extended his campaign to the European Parliament by meeting Borrel in Brussels on Tuesday. Last week he met the European Commission anti-trust chief Neelie Kroes.

Borrell met on Mittal's request, a day after the world's third richest man had a constructive meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt who has restrained from taking a stand and asked for the tycoon's industrial plans for the merged company which is expected to control 10 per cent of the world's steel supply.

Arcelor's other stake holding countries, Luxembourg, France and Spain have opposed the bid. Arcelor is consulting with bankers to prepare a counter stand alone plan in the hope of fending off the unsolicited bid.

An expert's view on Mittal's bid for Arcelor

Borrel, who has been followed the takeover bid, said the Parliament should act as a forum for debate on the major issues affecting the people and the economy of the European Union even though it does not have any official authority in approving the unsolicited takeover."

"I understand the social concerns of employees of Arcelor, a major European industrial group, which has a work force of 80,000 in the European Union."

Stating that Mittal outlined his industrial plans and its social and economic consequences, Borrel expressed his need to meet the representatives of Arcelor and the various trade union organisations involved.

He is due to meet representatives of the European Federation of Metallurgists this week. "With the agreement of all interested parties, I plan to promote this debate within our institution over the coming weeks," Borrel said.