Mr. Ted Massey:

The Commission's opinion and what it is communicating to us has changed over that period. Since the start of this year, in my opinion - this is only my opinion - it has become much more focused on these 2027 water framework directive targets. When we go to them talking about flexibility, they tell us how it has become much more difficult for the Commission to justify granting a derogation, especially when it comes to issues like water quality, where they are not seeing improvements. They say to us that we also need to consider the longer term. One can read between the lines as to what they are saying there but they are saying we have to consider what will be good for our industry in the longer term as well when we are calling for flexibility now. They say they are very much focused on those 2027 targets, and that is presenting a real challenge for us. We have asked for more time for the measures to be able to demonstrate their effectiveness, and the response from the Commission is that we do not have time to wait. That is the kind of discussion we are having.