{"id":117234,"date":"2025-02-26T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=117234"},"modified":"2025-02-26T14:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:50:12","slug":"omnibus-a-trojan-horse-for-aggressive-deregulation-say-ngos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/omnibus-a-trojan-horse-for-aggressive-deregulation-say-ngos\/","title":{"rendered":"Omnibus a trojan horse for aggressive deregulation, say NGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels, 26 February 2025 \u2013\u00a0<\/b>Just four months after vital rules to protect people and the planet were agreed by the EU, the Commission has launched a two-part Omnibus Simplification Package, in the name of competitiveness, that simultaneously undermines these rules and overrides the democratic process from which they arose.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the Commission announced its intention to propose an Omnibus Package that would \u201cstreamline\u201d legislation and enhance European competitiveness in January, civil society has anticipated its proposal with great concern. The result is worse than we thought<\/p>\n

The first part of this package – Omnibus I – targets the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the EU Taxonomy. Instead of improving clarity, this proposal dismantles core elements of these key pillars of the Green Deal and responsible business practices.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s press briefing, Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis openly framed protections for people and the environment as obstacles to corporate profits, making it clear that this package is designed to weaken corporate accountability and facilitate a profit-at-all-costs approach for business. By gutting essential sustainability laws, the Commission is pushing Europe backward at a time when stronger business responsibility is urgently needed.<\/p>\n

Faustine Bas-Defossez<\/strong>, Director for Nature, Health and Environment at the EEB, said:<\/p>\n

“It is now clear that \u2018simplification\u2019 is just a Trojan horse for aggressive deregulation. The Omnibus Simplification Package isn\u2019t just an attack on corporate environmental accountability, it\u2019s a blow to democracy. In just four months, the Commission has rewritten agreed EU rules without any democratic process, impact assessment, or consultation. All without a shred of evidence that these yet-to-be-implemented rules would harm competitiveness. What this package does create, however, is legal uncertainty, rewarding laggards while penalising companies that were moving early to monitor and report their environmental impact.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Key takeaways<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Green deal under attack<\/strong> \u2013 Just months after its adoption, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is being dismantled, weakening corporate accountability instead of clarifying rules through guidance.<\/p>\n

Backroom deals, no democracy<\/strong> \u2013 The Commission bypassed democratic consultation, instead conducting a so-called \u201creality check\u201d with major corporate players\u2014sidestepping civil society and key stakeholders. The definition of \u201cstakeholders\u201d has been narrowed to those \u201cdirectly impacted,\u201d reducing corporate engagement with affected communities and workers.<\/p>\n

Justice denied<\/strong> \u2013 The proposal weakens corporate due diligence below international standards, scrapping mandatory civil liability and limiting enforcement. NGOs and civil society are barred from filing representative lawsuits, forcing victims of corporate abuse to navigate complex legal systems alone. The Commission also proposes removing the minimum 5% net worldwide turnover penalty, leaving sanction enforcement to EU states.<\/p>\n

Accountability shrinks<\/strong> \u2013 Due diligence is now limited to direct suppliers, ignoring risks across entire supply chains unless companies already have reliable information. Small suppliers (under 500 employees) are exempt entirely.<\/p>\n

Climate plans without action<\/strong> \u2013 Requirements for corporate transition plans have been stripped of substance. There are no clear milestones, science-based targets, or key decarbonisation actions which companies must take, turning the whole process into an inconsequential reporting exercise.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brussels, 26 February 2025 \u2013\u00a0Just four months after vital rules to protect people and the planet were agreed by the EU, the Commission has launched a [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":117238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[126,136,125],"tags":[954,955,832,352,147,956,957],"class_list":["post-117234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-democracy","category-environmental-justice","category-sustainability-governance","tag-csddd","tag-csrd","tag-due-diligence","tag-environmental-democracy","tag-environmental-justice","tag-eu-taxonomy","tag-sustainable-due-diligence"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/th.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}