failed to take account of the common interest. as he wrote, “ cooperation between nations, however important it may be, does not resolve anything. what one has to seek is a fusion of the interests of european people, not just to preserve a balance among those interests ”. 3 thus he promoted his supranational method of decision - making based on common institutions and majority rule for two reasons. first, because such institutions could execute and decide in the common interest ; and second, because they could produce economies of scale via the pooling of resources, thereby increasing the effectiveness of policymaking. in this way, his approach to sovereignty was essentially positive. he did not conceive of sovereignty so much in terms of normative rights as in terms of power and efficacy. and for that 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches reason, if transfers of sovereignty to a supranational body were the best way to deliver peace, wealth and security, then he did not see that as constraining the sovereignty of nations, but rather as merging and extending it. but monnet was nonetheless anxious to ensure that such transfers were perceived as legitimate by the people. it is interesting in this context that he preferred not to use the word “ supranational ”, perhaps because it was too susceptible to being misunderstood as a policy that removes control from citizens. 4 he therefore deliberately opted for a gradual approach based on the principle of subsidiarity – what he called initiatives in a limited, but decisive area. precisely because pooling sovereignty had to be seen not just as effective, but also under democratic control, european integration could only happen if it focused on areas where there was an immediate need and where it could augment the existing governmental or intergovernmental policies. yet this pragmatism should not be mistaken for a random approach to integration. monnet also argued that a clear sense of direction was vital to the overall trajectory – that “ the route that we take is less important than the direction we travel in ”. 5 indeed, the fact that union in europe began in the limited area of economic cooperation – coal and steel – does not mean that it was not intended to be a political union. for monnet, economic integration was always a foundation of political union, with the single market leading to the single currency and eventually a federation. thus from the very start he affirmed the political nature of the european project, and consequently the importance of the democratic underpinning of

students do not provide an equally positive picture. a report from the norwegian mathematics council shows that the level of mathematical skills among new university students has declined markedly in recent years. 11 even the top performing students score considerably lower than earlier. this is illustrated here as the percentage of correct answers in arithmetic and percent calculation, but we find similar scores for other mathematical skills. norway is taking an economic risk in allowing the skills level to decline. but – to take a brighter view of this : we have after all experienced that negative trends can be reversed in very important areas of society. our most important resource is our labour force. the employment rate is high in norway. this is because many wish to participate in working life, and the vast majority find a job. however, the norwegian labour market also has its weak points. the annual number of person - years worked is lower in norway than in the us and the rest of europe. both in norway and the rest of europe, the fall in the number of working hours is ascribable to longer holidays and shorter working days. the standard working year is short in norway, but on the other hand norway also has a higher percentage of part - time employees than other countries. access to these working hour arrangements has made it easier for women and young workers to enter the labour market. see for example oecd ( 2006 ) : economic policy reforms : going for growth ; bart van ark ( 2005 ) : “ europe ’ s productivity gap : catching up or getting stuck ” ; and christine cumming : panel remarks in a symposium on productivity, competitiveness and globalization, banque de france, paris, november 4, 2005. see for example cumming ( 2005 ) and van ark ( 2005 ), op. cit. european commission ( 2005 ) : special eurobarometer 224, europeans, science and technology, june 2005. source : telemark university college : norwegian mathematics council ’ s autumn 2003 survey among new students, february 2004. the income level in norway has increased. many may prefer to take advantage of this by increasing their leisure time in the form of shorter working days or longer holidays. and this has in fact taken place. moreover, the retirement age is steadily declining. the expected retirement age is now below 60, when disability pensioners are taken into account. at the same time, life expectancy has increased, and leisure time accounts for an increasing share of our lives. the large post - war cohorts will only reach ordinary retirement