Anthea McIntyre, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, first, I really want to thank both rapporteurs for their inclusive and constructive work on this file. I may not have agreed with them, but both the rapporteurs conducted negotiations in a spirit of really good cooperation and I want to acknowledge that here today.

My Group felt that we should wait until the Enforcement Directive was fully implemented before bringing further legislation. Nevertheless, we have tried to be constructive, and our priorities have been clear: we must avoid dividing Europe between east and west, we must strike a good balance between the freedom to provide services across the EU and the protection of workers, and we must avoid creating legal ambiguity and uncertainty. Unfortunately, the trilogue agreement has failed in these areas. Even all references to Rome I, the law applicable to contractual obligations, have been removed, so we are in danger of undermining the competitive position of companies, especially SMEs, providing services in EU Member States other than their own. Some provisions in the final text exceed the scope of the Directive and cause legal uncertainty, so the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group has tabled an amendment to try and bring some clarity to businesses who are lawfully trying to provide a cross-border service. I fear that by making lawful postings very difficult, this proposal may cause the unintended consequence of increasing undeclared work and bogus self-employment and other illegal practices, so the ECR Group cannot support the final agreement.