06/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - After the accusations and reproaches levelled at each other by the Right and Left of the European Parliament, after the postponement of the vote of the committee on the internal market on the Gebhardt report on the "services" directive, CSU MEP Joachim Wuermeling tried to pour oil on troubled waters (see EUROPE 9040). "With over 2000 amendments, the risk of a random result was too great", the MEP noted in a press release, adding that on such a sensitive issue, all possibilities of arriving at a compromise should be explored. Another member of the EPP-ED group, the British Conservative Malcolm Harbour, who was the shadow rapporteur on the directive, first of all reacted in a similar vein, but has now become angry, because the rapporteur, German Social Democrat Evelyne Gebhardt, accused the EPP-ED group of sabotaging the vote. Crying "blackmail", Mr Harbour said: it was the rapporteur who did not want to examine amendments presented by other groups, which would have "greatly simplified the vote" (however, other MEPs accuse the EPP-ED and ALDE groups of having tabled their amendments too late and without having consulted the other political groups, so that genuine compromise amendments could be discussed).