Brussels, 24/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Competitiveness Council reached political agreement on the machinery directive on Friday, setting safety standards for machinery and lifts. During the public debate, the President of the Council, Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, said that all delegations had reservations - France on how the new directive intermeshed with the machinery and tractor directives; Germany on the annexes to the directive. Germany apparently wants the same numbering to be used in the new directive as in the directive it replaces, but said that it was prepared to accept the Commission's proposed solution. Germany also had reservations about Annex IV on control procedures, but the Commission has agreed to re-examine the text before the adoption of a common position. Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Olli Rehn regretted that the terminology used to describe penalties had been changed. He said the Commission would agree to the change, but wanted its reservations to be set out in the minutes of the meeting.