EPP ready to side with far right to strip back EU sustainability rules
EPP, Socialists and Renew leaders huddled behind closed doors this morning to find a compromise on the sustainability and due diligence laws
STRASBOURG, France – The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is hinting its readiness to vote with the far right to water down EU corporate sustainability rules, several officials with knowledge of the matter told Euractiv.
EPP leader Manfred Weber huddled behind closed doors with Socialists chief Iratxe García and Renew boss Valérie Hayer this morning in Strasbourg to find a compromise on the sustainability and due diligence laws, in a sign of how sensitive the discussions on the first omnibus proposal have become.
But as talks rumble on ahead of a vote in the legal affairs committee next Monday, the EPP is moving ahead with its threat to ally with the far right – and sidestep the S&D and Renew groups – to propose a more substantive deregulation of the laws.
That plan has now surfaced as a voting list, seen by Euractiv, reportedly built upon the EPP’s compromise proposal with the far right.
“Yes, the EPP has submitted a voting list with the far right, while negotiations are still ongoing” between the EPP, the liberal group Renew, and Socialist and Democrats, Renew lawmaker Pascal Canfin confirmed to Euractiv.
“We will continue to negotiate until the very end. If an agreement is reached, it could replace the current voting list,” added Canfin, who is the liberal group’s lead negotiator on the file.
The Green’s negotiator Kira Marie Peter-Hansen found sterner words: “The EPP has turned its back on Europe’s core values,” she said.
“Without civil liability, sustainability rules are toothless. Empty promises don’t protect people or the environment,” Peter-Hansen added.
A press officer for the social democrats said that “negotiations are ongoing.” The EPP did not reply to questions by the time of publication.
(vib)
