Diana argued that the opt-outs, which will be extended to the whole Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, are not positive for the UK in the long-term and that they lessen the UK's influence in the Council, on the Commission, and increasingly also prejudice the work of its MEPs. Added to this is the fact that the civil law area is so closely connected to the achievement of an internal market in goods, services and capital, that any retreat or variable geometry in the latter area will inevitably produce serious disruptions in the former.
