On Thursday 1 February, the German Ministers of Justice and Finance published a joint letter in which they stated their opposition to the text of the provisional agreement on the directive governing companies’ due diligence. An unexpected statement, given that the text of the agreement was finalised less than a week ago (see EUROPE 13339/17).
The negotiations were tough, with the last trilogue lasting almost 13 hours (see EUROPE 13314/12). A further month was needed to clarify the technical details.
The German statement suddenly casts doubt on the future approval of the text at the meeting of Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper), scheduled for 9 February.
If Germany were to abstain (which is equivalent to a vote against), the text could be sent back to the negotiators. Given the tight timetable, finalising the text could fall to the next Council Presidency, which may not make it one of its priorities.
According to several sources, the German position has not yet been finalised. Both ministers belong to the Liberal Democrat Party, which has recently opposed EU policy in terms of the ‘administrative burden’ on businesses. At this stage, it is not certain that this German declaration will prompt other Member States to oppose the agreement.
See the letter from the German ministers: https://aeur.eu/f/ap2 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)