EU lawmakers reject deal to simplify sustainability rules in major upset
Secret ballot derails talks on EU due diligence reform
Just nine votes blocked a deal between the EU centre-right, liberal, and centre-left parties on the politically sensitive “omnibus” law to simplify Europe’s sustainability and due diligence rules on Wednesday.
With 318 votes against and 309 in favour, the Parliament opposed opening negotiations with EU governments and the European Commission based on the draft negotiating stance agreed by the committee two weeks ago. Thirty-four lawmakers abstained.
In committee, talks turned sour when S&D’s negotiator on the file dissented from her own group on the final vote. Also, the right-wing ECR group was split along national lines, as Poles in the committee voted to hold back the mandate while Italians pushed forward.
Final talks between EU institutions were supposed to start on Friday, but today’s secret ballot has halted this process until a plenary examination of the European Parliament’s negotiating stance on 13 November.
The vote is a blow to the centre-right’s European People’s Party (EPP), which leads parliamentary work on the file and had pushed the liberals of Renew and the Socialists and Democrats to accept a deal on its own terms.
Secret ballot kills deal
Who exactly killed the deal is unclear, however, as the vote was held in secret. Both the far right and the Greens had called for rejecting the deal. Renew had pledged to vote in favour.
Initially set to sail through plenary without a formal vote, right-wing groups requested a secret ballot – possibly to make it easier for Socialists torn between loyalties to break from the group line.
“Today’s vote makes it clear that Parliament is not ready to rubber-stamp EPP’s blackmail and a deal that weakens Europe’s sustainability framework,” the lead Green negotiator Kira Marie Peter-Hansen told Euractiv.
She said that the vote “gives us another chance to improve the text and make sure our sustainability and due diligence rules actually matter”, and that her group is ready to restart the talks.
“It is a success for democracy,” said ECR negotiator Tobiasz Bocheński. “Members of Parliament voted according to their convictions, not to the instructions of party whips.”
“The European Parliament is shifting to the right, towards common sense. We now have an opportunity to work on the deregulation of the Green Deal,” he added.
This is a developing story.
(aw)
