32. Stresses, however, that the Single Market of the 21st century must operate within a set of necessary and proportionate rules; believes that greater harmonisation may be necessary in certain areas, in particular in retail financial services (including means of payment) and in the functioning of the tax system; welcomes the Commission Green Paper on Retail Financial Services in the Single Market (COM(2007)0226) and, while recognising the local nature of retail financial services, urges the Commission to promote the steps already taken and being taken to create the conditions for a Single Market in which consumers and suppliers can choose to participate; is of the opinion that to this end greater consumer testing of possible initiatives ...[+++] should always be undertaken; urges the Commission to push ahead with its proposals concerning a common consolidated corporate tax base;

– (IT) Mr President, in its opinion on the Green Paper on compensation to crime victims, the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market congratulates the Commission on the approach it has proposed and adopted and welcomes the definition of the three major objectives for possible action at Community level: firstly, the need to guarantee crime victims within the Union the possibility of obtaining state compensation, providing for a safety net for all Union residents; secondly, the need to adopt the necessary measures to limit the unfair effects that result from the great differences that currently exist between levels of compensation in the different Member States, which, in practice, vary according to the Member State of residence o ...[+++]f the victim or the Member State in which they were the victims of the crime; and, thirdly, the need to facilitate cross-border victims’ access to state compensation, ensuring that victims’ access to compensation is not excessively dependent upon the place in the Union in which the crime was committed.

6. Deeply deplores the acts of violence and provocation committed at the Göteborg Summit by organised groups and even specialised commandos representing a marginal percentage of the demonstrators present; considers this behaviour totally unacceptable in a democratic society which attaches great importance to the maintenance of the principle of freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate publicly and peacefully; draws attention to the fact that the influence of demonstrations on the democratic process is intr ...[+++]insically linked to the public’s acceptance of the methods used and the validity of the arguments;

WHITE PAPER ON GROWTH, COMPETITIVENESS AND EMPLOYMENT The Council took note of the information provided by Mr Delors on progress in implementing the White Paper and in particular on the following six aspects: perfecting the internal market, the quantitative and qualitative development of research, financing large infrastructure networks, creating the information society, improving employment systems, and the relationship between growth, the environment and employment.

Each of the major initiatives outlined in the red book were outlined weeks in advance of the election, something which heretofore has been considered to be a politically silly thing to do; to actually tell the people in detail, not days, not hours, not weeks but a month before an election, to lay it out and say: ``Here is what we will do if charged with the responsibility to govern''.

The programme is under way, and the Council has taken more decisions under various parts of the White Paper this month - some of them of considerable importance (e.g. the new approach to standards).