Brussels, 12/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Greek Presidency and representatives of the European Parliament have made progress in the talks on the draft directive to introduce greater transparency in the work of non-financial bodies in the environmental, social and fiscal domains.
A source says the two EU institutions are on the same wavelength, but that did not mean that agreement was guaranteed. The Greek Presidency still has to officially brief member states, possibly on Wednesday, of the outcome of talks subject to an ad referendum agreement. The qualified majority required at the Council of Ministers has not yet been found and member states did not express their views after a short presentation on Wednesday 12 February of the results of the trialogue talks on Monday (see EUROPE 11016).
The two co-legislative institutions have reduced the scope of application of the directive so that it only applies to bodies of public interest in the EU (companies quoted on the stock exchange, banks and insurance companies) employing more than 250 people. A review clause will be introduced to examine the scope question at a later date. The companies in question will not have to give a country-by-country breakdown of how much tax they pay outside the EU but here, too, a review clause will be introduced to examine the question again in 2018, based on an impact assessment by the European Commission and developments in this field in international fora. Another controversial aspect is the amount of detail to be given about social and environmental policies. The agreement is said to include the statement that the information must cover “the production chain”, as demanded by the EP and also to require (as long as the information is pertinent and proportionate) that the European companies covered by the directive should include in their annual accounts information relating to crises like the Rana Plaza textile tragedy in Bangladesh in 2013 (see EUROPE 10922). (MB/transl.fl)