§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will discuss with the European Commission proposals to harmonise social security systems.
§ Mr. OrmeIt is the declared objective of the Heads of Government to harmonise the degree of social security afforded by the various Member States, without requiring the respective social systems to be identical. This allows national priorities to be defined and social security policies to be reconciled with other policies in different ways in each of the member States. Subject to these constraints, the objective is being pursued through the normal processes of consultation between member States.