The spectre of cooperation – or the threat of it – between the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and far-right factions in the European Parliament is once again haunting policy talks in Brussels – this time over how far Europe should roll back landmark legislation on corporate sustainability.
The Corporate Sustainablity Reporting Directive (CSRD), as its name suggests, requires companies to report on internal efforts to clean up their business. The Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires firms to ensure their supply chains are not tainted by human rights or environmental abapplys.
Both have been tarobtained in the European Commission’s deregulation drive, in the first of a series of ‘omnibus’ proposals.
Only the largegest
The European Parliament’s lead neobtainediator of the file, EPP lawcreater Jörgen Warborn, came up on Tuesday with two compromise proposals: one calling for the widest exemptions is reportedly backed by the far right, while a second, less hawkish option still requireds fine-tuning to obtain all mainstream parties on board.
A compromise document seen by Euractiv reveals that the first proposal would limit the scope of the CSRD to only the largest of companies, with at least 1,750 employees and an annual turnover of €450 million. It would also green-light the Commission’s proposal to water down rules on civil liability in the CSDDD.
The second option would include more companies in the CSRD scope by applying a lower employee threshold of 1,000 workers, and add a review claapply on civil liability rules. According to two sources, the turnover threshold to apply the CSDDD could also be reduced from the €1.5 billion proposed by Warborn.
French MEP Pascal Canfin of the liberal Renew group stated that the two options also differ on the matter of climate transition plans, which would be “completely voluntary” in the option favoured by the far right.
“I have today presented two packages…One having a clear majority,” Warborn stated in a social media post on Tuesday evening. Asked by Euractiv whether the EPP would consider allying with the far right, Warborn stated that he would not “exclude any majority as long as we cut costs for businesses and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness”.
Compromise
According to Canfin, however, the ball is actually in the court of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), as they are refapplying to accept the Commission’s proposal to water down the civil liability provisions in the CSDDD.
Canfin suggested such intransigence could backfire, warning that a failure to find a compromise between centrist parties would allow the EPP to apply the majority further to its right, where there would be “no limit anymore” to the extent of the deregulation.
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, the Greens’ neobtainediator on the file, warned that working with the far-right would be tantamount to “rejecting Europe’s core values and putting the EU’s stability at risk”.
“We have approached the neobtainediations in a constructive spirit, and the EPP’s continuous threatening to apply a far-right majority is not supportful for anyone, except those who wants to tear down this hoapply,” Peter-Hansen stated.
The European Parliament’s legal affair committee is expected to decide its position on the reform at a meeting on 13 October, meaning neobtainediators have little over a week to sort out their disagreements.
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