30/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Jean-Paul Gauzès (EPP-ED, France), the rapporteur on the draft directive on payment services, and Gianni Pittelle (PES, Italy) believe the message on this issue coming from the Ecofin Council of Tuesday 28 November are “positive” (see EUROPE 9316). “We note the commitment made by European finance ministers … to work to find an agreement … before the next Ecofin Council meeting in January,” they said in a joint press release. They called on “the Finnish Presidency and the forthcoming German Presidency (to do) all they could to reach an agreement on the issues still unresolved so that the Parliament and the Council can close the matter on first reading.” “The decision to postpone the Parliament vote until February” was taken precisely to allow the time needed for negotiation, they said. (mb)