As I said, there are some 17 proposals pending insofar as the legislative situation is concerned. They deal with regulations and directives, particularly on labour law and equal treatment, health and safety and other health matters. We will go on making progress as we have over the past year and a half. You will recognize that we have cleared five directives in that period of time, five very difficult issues. So we are making progress and it must in no way be suggested that the new White Paper on social policy is somehow abandoning the existing social action programme we have had since 1989. On the contrary it is our intention to proceed, as we are doing right now, using both the Maastricht Treaty and the old Treaty base to deliver on the 17 outstanding proposals.

It is our intention with a view to Essen to put together a list of specific options on the seven themes that were isolated at the Brussels Summit so that we can make the right kind of recommendation. The big question is: will it be prescriptive? The answer of course is that it is primarily a matter for the Member States themselves. But I think we have reached the stage where we have had enough talk about what can be done to transpose growth into real action and tranpose growth into more labour-intensive job creation. We must now be more specific and that is the reason why we are endeavouring to get our specific action programme in place so that Member States can then look to see what suits them in their own particular circumstances and act on the programme. In my tour of capitals earlier this year one thing that came across to me was that every single Member State was doing something. They all accepted that employment creation has to be a priority but it did not seem to me that they were focusing their refor

ms as a consequence of the Delors White Paper. Consequently, we need better coordination not just here at Union level but among all the actors at Member State level as well. In other words, that simply means that Ministers for Labour, Industry, Education and Finance have to talk to each other and deliver on the ground. We would hope to make recommendations that might make it possible for them to do so in a coordinated way. Then we can evaluate the situation properly and put a proper monitoring arrangement in place.