La Communication demande si le moment n'est pas venu d'engager sans attendre une reflexion au niveau communautaire sur les objectifs que devraient se fixer dans l'avenir les systemes de protection sociale, ce qui, d'une part, eviterait que certains Etats membres ne prennent des mesures sociales qui leur donnent une marge supplementaire de competitivite aux depens de leurs concurrents et, d'autre part, permettrait de depasser les opposi- tions a l'idee d'harmonisation des systemes de securite sociale a cause des couts que cette harmonisation entrainerait pour certains pays membres.
The communication raises the question of whether it would not be appropriate for the Member States to proceed forthwith with a discussion at Community level on the aims to be set for social protection schemes in the future. The purpose of this would be to obviate the danger that some Member States might introduce social measures which would give them a competitive edge over others and also to overcome opposition to the idea of harmonization of social security systems because of the expense in which this would involve some Member States.