The third negotiation meeting between representatives of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the Regulation laying the foundations for the future taxonomy on sustainable finance (see EUROPE 12026/4), held on Wednesday 20 November, was inconclusive, according to a European source.
As anticipated (see EUROPE 12356/13), there is a major disagreement between the co-legislators on governance and the role of the Member States and the European Parliament in the implementation of the taxonomy.
The European Parliament would not be able to accept the system proposed by the EU Council, namely that the Commission should establish by means of delegated acts the technical criteria on the basis of which it will be possible to determine whether and to what extent an economic activity is ecologically sustainable, and by implementing acts the quantitative and/or qualitative thresholds that must be met by the economic activity to be considered 'sustainable' (see EUROPE 12333/8).
According to the same source, the Parliament would like to have a say in the setting of these thresholds. However, for the EU Council, this system of implementing acts would constitute a real red line.
The negotiators also continued their discussions on the scope of the Regulation, in particular on "transitional" and "enabling" activities, on which the European Commission is said to have presented a document. The European Parliament hopes to make them into separate categories - a request that the EU Council would not find acceptable.
The discussion is said to have also focused on the link between the future taxonomy and the regulation that specifies how institutional investors should integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment decision-making (see EUROPE 11977/2). However, there were no concrete results. The date of implementation of the provisions was also discussed without any decision being taken.
European Parliament and EU Council negotiators will meet again on 27 November in Strasbourg for a new round of negotiations. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)