This marks a visible shift in the Union’s economic course: where increasingly strict standards were previously introduced, they are now being weakened. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says that due to the Russian war against Ukraine and new American import tariffs, EU countries themselves need to better manage their economies.
The EU is thus taking a different direction than in recent years. Back then, new climate rules and sustainability obligations were introduced, including through the Green Deal. Therefore, various regulations related to the Green Deal, Environment, Sustainability, Human Rights, and Social Affairs are now being undone or weakened in Omnibus reports.
The center-right EPP in Parliament chose not to slightly soften the criticized laws with center-left parties, but instead to drastically minimize the regulations in cooperation with right-wing and far-right groups. This is seen as a break with previous cooperation in Parliament and a sign of shifting political balances.
Companies will no longer be required to prepare plans to align their operations with international climate agreements. Significant steps are also being rolled back in due diligence rules. Supporters call the outcome a necessary step to reduce administrative burdens. They argue that fewer obligations are needed to improve competitiveness.
Greens, socialists, and civil society organizations call the decision a “setback” and even speak of a “black day” for European climate policy. According to them, this dismantles policies that were meant to better protect human rights and nature. They say this cooperation with the far right causes unrest; it abandons the old “cordon sanitaire.”
“With the open cooperation with the far right, the European Christian Democrats have shown what they truly stand for. Not care for each other, but an economy of erosion and exploitation,” said Dutch MEP Lara Wolters (S&D/PvdA), one of the co-authors of the rules now being reversed.
“Gone is the liability of oil companies, gone the justice for victims of modern slavery, gone the taking of responsibility for environmental and climate damage. Companies that want to do well remain out in the cold; cowboy companies get free rein. All this under the pretext of ‘good for the economy,’ ” Wolters responded to the voting results.