I can fully support the Member's point of view. There is no contradiction here. As far as I am concerned a good social policy is part of the competitive formula. There is no contradiction at all between economic growth and a good social dimension. They work hand in hand and that is good business practice. That is way you get a motivated workforce. That is the way you get the highest levels of productivity and that is why we are asking for so much effort to be made insofar as the investment in human resources is concerned.

You are quite right in saying that many Member States are having great difficulty in managing the social security demand on their exchequers. There is no question about that. That is the reason why, under my colleague's proposals, there are suggestions as to how increased money might be brought into the system to underpin the shortfall that will inevitably occur and that is the reason for the CO2 and energy tax proposal. I would think it would be obligatory on us to do everything we can insofar as the directive is concerned to help the Member States establish how they would best manage their social security systems. We are not talking about harmonization, that is not part of our brief or our competence, but we certainly can do a lot to promote the convergence programmes that are being contemplated.