For the first time, the European Peoples Party (EPP) in the European Parliament is relying on the support of the anti-European, right-wing groups to pass a legislative text - its position on the Omnibus 1 simplification package. This represents a clear break with the cordon sanitaire that previously kept such alliances off-limits.
“Today’s vote confirms our worst fears since the start of the Omnibus process: Under the current leadership of the EPP, the European Parliament becomes an unreliable co-legislator. Counting on the votes of the far-right is simply surrendering the EU to those who want to destroy its institutions, its joint defence and energy-security policies, and roll back Europe’s competitive advantages on decarbonisation. This is not just short-sighted; it is deeply anti-European and will have huge implications beyond these files!” said Julia Otten of Frank Bold.
Instead of faithfully negotiating a compromise with centrist and pro-European groups, the EPP has been blackmailing the pro-European groups to force them into a compromise. When this strategy failed, it tabled the amendments initially offered to the far-right in the Committee negotiations in October.
The EPP clearly uses the Omnibus process on one of the EU’s flagship laws from the Green Deal, to push for aggressive deregulation, a move whose legality has been questioned by several legal scholars and could expose the EU to future lawsuits.
With the support of far-right parties, the position adopted by EPP has deleted companies’ obligation to develop a climate transition plan in the Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). This comes a week after the EU Commission’s President stated in Brazil that “this must be the COP that keeps 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.” Furthermore, Hours before the vote, Von der Leyen addressed the EU Parliament saying that "the work to decarbonise goes hand in hand with the work for our competitiveness". Article 22 of the CSDDD sets out the basic expectations for companies to support these efforts. By deleting the obligations, the EPP is giving a blank cheque to laggards and protecting the interests of those that wish to keep Europe dependent on fossil fuel imports.
The EPP has also pushed to exempt even more companies from disclosing climate and sustainability risks and impacts under the CSRD (92% according to expert estimates). The newly adopted thresholds, raising the employee number to 1,750 and turnover to €450 million, will severely restrict access to comparable and reliable sustainability data, which investors, banks, regulators and supervisory authorities rely upon. The EPP is ignoring completely the warnings and recommendations of the European Central Bank.
The broader implications of today’s decision are grave: the Parliament risks creating regulatory uncertainty, fragmenting Europe’s internal market, and weakening Europe’s global leadership in sustainable investment and its competitiveness on decarbonisation. Businesses are already delivering encouraging results in the first year of CSRD implementation, yet policymakers are rushing to rewrite rules that took years to design and harmonise with international standards and consensus.
Media contact:
Julia Otten, Senior Policy Officer at Frank Bold
+32 472 3886 09
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Whilst the European Parliament and the Council are in the midst of analysing and debating the Omnibus Simplification Package, we suggest our key changes for the co-legislators to implement to ensure that the CSRD is respected.
Following the European Commission’s announcement of its Omnibus Simplification Package at the end of February, both the Council and the European Parliament must now reach their own positions on the proposals, before the trilogue negotiations between all three bodies commence again.
At the end February, we exposed how the European Commission’s recently announced Omnibus proposals intend to modify corporate sustainability due diligence, reporting and taxonomy and how it will influence the effectiveness of these key legal frameworks.
