37. Points out that new posts in Parliament should only be authorised for new specific needs, for which a precise job description has been submitted and which cannot be filled by redeployment; requests its Secretary-General to submit a report by 1 June 2003 indicating the number of A3 adviser posts in the administration and the functional justifications for them;

16. Underlines in that regard the importance of a pragmatic interpretation of the criteria, in particular in view of the fact that many of the new Member States will have achieved a considerable degree of exchange rate stability by other means than ERM II, for example, through currency board arrangements;

It is clear that we must underline and strengthen the national and indirect option and it is also obvious that this is the majority’s preferred option.

I will close with these five points: A clear, enforceable, legal requirement to invest CPP assets solely in the best interests of CPP stakeholders, the people of Canada; a clear chain of accountability through the CPP governance structure to the CPP stakeholders; a perception by CPP stakeholders that the CPP governance structure is there to look after their best interests; a clear, unfettered path to accessing the best strategic and tactical investment thinking and expertise available to set and implement the CPP fund's investment policy; and, finally, flexibility in being able to anticipate and respond to new circumstances in an eve ...[+++]r-dynamic world.

That involves our colleagues in the forest products industry, because so many of the things they produce are used for pallets, crates and containers.

MAJOR STRUCTURAL CHANGES HAVE TAKEN PLACE Industry responses to the problems of increased world competition, fluctuating energy costs, reductions in subsidies and other forms of intervention by public bodies, and the technological changes taking place can be grouped as follows: - many sectors undertook major rationalization investment, resulting in higher productivity, a reduction in the workforce and a reduction in the consumption of other inputs, such as energy and material - greater flexibility of costs was sought by many industries by moving to multipurpose production equipment (e.g. the cement industry which is now able to switch between primary energy sources depending on their relative prices) - externalization of a number of activit ...[+++]ies previously done in-house (cleaning, accounting), also in order to obtain more cost flexibility - 3 - - a clear tendency towards increased industrial cooperation is appearing with increasing numbers of joint ventures and of mergers and acquisitions, with a view of getting access to new markets or to improve their competitive position (e.g. the food sector) or in order to save costs by capitalizing on synergies in the production process (automobile, aerospace) - companies decided to make a shift or a change of their product range: either a reduced number of products (chemicals, textiles and clothing) or, on the contrary, a wider product range with a view to reducing the cyclical nature of their business (jewelry, household appliances, pulp and paper) Among the factors most referred to by industry as having induced a re- orientation of corporate strategies figure the changing competitive environment: the globalisation of trade (particularly the emergence of new competitors from the Far East) and the creation of the Single Market.