Dr. Rachel Widdis:

I have a few things to contribute. The Commission is going to bring forward guidelines, which will be important because laws can be full of pages. Pragmatic guidelines, therefore, are important. The issuing of those guidelines has been brought forward. That is important.

On maximum harmonisation, we need to be careful as to what applies in this regard. It has already been reduced. The directive sets a floor and individual states, once they hit that floor, have the option to do a little more or do more in different areas. In this case, maximum harmonisation limits the ability to have higher standards. Pressure towards less harmonisation means we want fewer high standards, broadly. Broadly, those are the terms. Personally, a lot of care is needed around maximum harmonisation. I would not advocate for extending it. It has already been extended in the omnibus. The areas where maximum harmonisation applies have been extended. It is important to note that.