However mundane and technical the cross-border service of judicial and extrajudicial documents may appear at first sight, it is of the utmost importance in the interest of the efficiency and public acceptance of a ‘European jurisdiction’ that the system for the service of legal documents should function properly. Rapid progress in this area would be particularly welcome. That being so, what in the Council’s view is the likelihood of the proposed improvement to the Regulation on cross-border service of documents, which is so important for practical reasons, being concluded at first reading under the Austrian Presidency?