The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council wanted to try its luck for the third time with the provisional agreement on corporate due diligence, and put its approval on the agenda of the Committee of Representatives of the Member States to the EU (‘Coreper’) on Friday 8 March. A new compromise text was presented to the EU27, which represents “an important step towards the reluctant Member States”, said the Belgian Minister for Development David Clarinval at the ‘Competitiveness’ Council on Thursday 7 March.
The Flemish Minister for Economic Affairs, Jo Brouns, indicated that he would like to see the text adopted quickly, if possible at Coreper on Friday, “but that depends on the reaction of the Member States”.
At the time of going to press, the Belgian Presidency did not think of putting this item on the agenda for the meeting of Member State representatives on 8 March, due to a lack of support.
However, many of the requests made by the EU27 have been taken into account. The Belgian Presidency’s new text changes the scope of the companies covered by the directive, which will be progressive: 3 years after the adoption of the text, companies with more than 5,000 employees and a turnover of more than €1.5 billion will have to start applying the due diligence under the terms of the directive. The thresholds will rise to 3,000 employees and €900 million in sales after 4 years, then to 1,000 employees and €300 million in sales after 5 years.
The provisional agreement reached between the EU Council and Parliament targeted companies with more than 500 employees and a turnover in excess of €150 million, ten times lower than the thresholds that will apply in the first year of application.
At-risk sectors, which were subject to lower thresholds, have been removed from the compromise.
For Marc Olivier Herman, head of economic justice for the NGO Oxfam, Thursday’s meeting of ministers illustrates “the total imbalance between discussing giving masses of public money to companies (as part of industrial policy, editor’s note) and not wanting to ask these companies to respect certain rules”. His NGO is nevertheless calling for a vote in favour of the text, which maintains corporate responsibility and due diligence obligations throughout the chain of activity.
David Clarinval called on his counterparts to support this “last chance text” during a public exchange on Thursday 7 March.
In turn, the Polish, Irish, Finnish, Dutch and Spanish ministers have declared their support for the text. Ireland was keen to express its “disappointment at the watered-down ambition of the text”, which it will nevertheless support in the spirit of compromise.
Germany’s position on this text is eagerly awaited. “I welcome the Belgian Presidency’s new proposal, but I cannot speak for the government as a whole. We are five parties, two would like to support the text, and one party is still sceptical”, Sven Giegold told Agence Europe ahead of the ‘Competitiveness’ Council.
On leaving the meeting, Italy’s Minister for Economic Development, Adolfo Urso, said that the Presidency’s compromise could still be improved. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)