Marlene Schörner

White smoke from Berlin: the coalition has agreed to tie new car purchase incentives to European preference rules - and work to align them across the EU.

A very smart move as @sandertordoir.bsky.social, @lucasguttenberg.bsky.social and I have argued here:
www.delorscentre.eu/fileadmin/2_...

Good to see @europarl.europa.eu refer to principle of solidarity in its resolution on Hungary calling for triggering of Art. 7(2) TEU. With @dimitrispieker.bsky.social and Ulrich Karpenstein, we argued that new Art. 7 procedure should be initiated against HU based on breaches of solidarity in CFSP

Today’s Omnibus vote has rolled over an already perforated cordon sanitaire in the European Parliament. For the first time, the EPP sided with far-right groups on a file key to the Commission’s agenda. Make no mistake: this was no accident and it’s unclear whether the centrist coalition can recover🧵

It was a secret ballot, so we cannot be sure what exactly happend. In any case, this compromise was reached under the EPP's threat of turning to the far-right.

And I fully agree that true simplification is necessary, but merely cutting out elements that make the CSDDD binding is not that.

9 / At the end, the EPP decided to rely on far-right votes to weaken human rights, sustainability, and regulatory predictability, by watering down laws that had not even fully come into effect yet.

8/ In sum, the effectiveness of the CSRD and the CSDDD in preparing companies for the green transition, steering investments and assessing financial stability risks, and in holding companies accountable for environmental and human rights violations in their supply chain, is significantly reduced.

7/ Fourth, civil liability of companies for non-compliance with due diligence was deleted. EU member states will not be required to introduce liability, and there will be no common civil liability regime in the EU. This will make it much harder to hold companies accountable.

6/ Third, regarding the supply chain due diligence, it becomes harder for companies to request information from smaller suppliers. Hence, for companies that wish to voluntarily go beyond the legal minimum in their monitoring, today’s vote limits their ability to gather the necessary information.

5/ Second, the CSRD will only apply to companies with >1750 employees (instead of 250) and 450 Mio. EUR turnover. As a result, only ~8% of businesses now fall under its scope. The ECB warned that such a restriction weakens the Eurosystem’s ability to assess climate-related financial risk.

4/ First, the mandatory adoption of climate transition plans with implementing actions under the CSDDD is scrapped. Transition plans are an important tool to prepare companies for a low-carbon world and help steer investments to support their transition processes.

3/ A compromise between the center parties failed in October. Today, the EPP decided to vote with the far right, arguing that it is heeding the calls of businesses, which are being strangled by sustainability reporting burdens. Against this background, they pushed through the following amendments:

2/ This omnibus package is the first of multiple legislative packages that are supposed to cut red tape and help EU companies thrive. However, the right line between simplification and deregulation has been subject to intense discussions between the EU institutions and the parties in the EP.

1/ The Sustainability “Omnibus” is a legislative package proposed by the European Commission aimed at making sustainability reporting less burdensome. It includes amendments to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Today´s vote on the Sustainability Omnibus was a watershed moment in the European Parliament, as the EPP sides with far-right political groups to scratch climate transition plans and civil liability under the CSDDD, and reduce the scope of companies covered under the CSRD.

Thread:

Today, the conservatives (EPP) passed a major piece of EU legislation with the far-right groups in the EU Parliament, marking the breakdown of the cordon sanitaire. The EPP, under Weber, has decided to sacrifice long-term principles and stability for short-term political gains.

Thread:

I am very excited to be joining the Jacques Delors Centre as Policy Fellow for EU Financial Markets! I look forward to contributing to the debate on how financial markets can best serve citizens and companies, and help promote the #greentransition and #EUcompetitiveness.