EU considers adding more laws to EU omnibus, says head of simplification
The EU has confirmed that it is considering adding more sustainability laws to its planned ‘omnibus’ package, and that it may be the first of an “omnibus fleet”.
Speaking at a press conference today, the head of simplification at the European Commission said there was “broad support” for a “serious and comprehensive” streamlining of its rules.
“As regards [to] our simplification omnibus, the primary focus is on sustainability reporting,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, who recently became commissioner for the economy and productivity, implementation and simplification.
The original plan was to simplify three of the EU’s flagship sustainability rules: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), and Taxonomy Regulation.
“But we are also looking at a possibility to include other elements in this omnibus,” said Dombrovskis, refusing to provide further details.
He was speaking at the end of two days of official talks by Europe’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council, which included a closed-door meeting on “ensuring a globally competitive business environment in Europe – simplification, decluttering and regulatory burden reduction”.
According to a note circulated last week by the Council’s current presidency, Poland, that discussion focused on which parts of the agenda Member States would like to see added to the simplification package and how co-legislators and national governments could help reduce the rules for companies.
Sources say Dombrovskis plans to hold an invite-only meeting on February 6th to discuss the plans further, ahead of publication of a formal communication from the Commission the following week. Real Economy Progress has contacted the Commission for confirmation, but had not had a response at the time of publication.
Speaking alongside the commissioner was Poland’s finance minister, Andrzej Domański, who described “huge demand from Member States” for the reduction of reporting in the EU.
“We need to see the first omnibus to be able to assess, but if it’s not enough, then probably we can expect another legislation to be presented,” said Domański, who appeared to refer to a potential “omnibus fleet”.
When asked by reporters whether already-agreed legal texts would be re-opened as part of its proposals, Dombrovkis said: “If we would not be opening any legislation, we would not need an omnibus”.
More industry and political demands take shape
The comments come as French and German industry associations crank up their campaign against the EU’s sustainability laws.
AFEP, France’s main business lobby group, and Deutsches Aktieninstitut, the trade body for Germany’s listed companies, wrote a letter yesterday calling for CS3D to be postponed until it’s undergone an assessment, in consultation with business and trade bodies, to see whether it should be cut back.
“Leaving the text as it stands would force European companies to withdraw from certain regions of the world in favour of international competitors with lower sustainability standards,” they warned.
“The CS3D will therefore have to be renegotiated once this assessment has been completed.”
The taxonomy should also be made voluntary, the pair proposed, and planned sector-specific standards for CSRD should be put on hold.
Companies should also be given the freedom not to disclose information that they believe is commercially sensitive.
Yesterday, the Commission’s vice president Stephane Sejourne told French radio he wanted to “eliminat[e] corporate reporting”, sparking panic from some that he planned to ditch the CSRD altogether.
Sejourne’s team has since clarified that he didn’t mean the literal elimination of the Directive, and that his comments had been “over-interpreted”.
Over the weekend, the European People’s Party issued a statement saying CSRD and CS3D are “proving to be excessive and burdensome, with immense trickle down effects for European SMEs”.
It said the two rules, along with the Taxonomy Regulation and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, should be suspended for “at least” two years.
“In that time, an omnibus regulation should limit the scope of these laws to the largest companies with more than 1000 employees, eliminate the indirect effect to SMEs, align legislative overlaps that currently lead to double reporting and significantly reduce the reporting obligations for large companies by at least 50%,” the letter said.