On Wednesday 12 March, the EU27 industry ministers spoke with one voice in support of the European Commission’s ‘Omnibus’ proposals (see EUROPE 13588/4). They brought a consensual message to the EU ‘Competitiveness’ Council in Brussels: the simplification measures are welcome and the EU Council is ready to work quickly to adopt them.
“We can’t get bogged down in debates”, Poland’s Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Krzysztof Paszyk, told Agence Europe. “The economies of the world are not going to wait for us to move. So if we don’t simplify European legislation, whether on the environment or on public procurement, we’ll be out of business and no longer competitive”, he insisted.
This sense of urgency is shared by France. “We want this omnibus package to be adopted very quickly, as a political signal”, French Industry Minister Marc Ferracci told his counterparts. And to advocate for a fast-track procedure in the EU Council, as in the European Parliament.
Asked whether the fast-track procedure was feasible, the Polish minister did not comment.
At the European Council meeting on 20 and 21 March, the heads of state or government are expected to call on the co-legislators to work as a matter of priority on “finalising in 2025 the recent Omnibus proposals of the Commission”, according to draft conclusions obtained by Agence Europe.
In Brussels on 12 March, a number of countries called for no rush, particularly as regards the forthcoming ‘Omnibus’ packages. Several of them insisted that these should be based on impact studies. This principle applies to all new legislation, with the aim of reducing the regulatory burden.
Simplification in detail. The Polish Presidency of the EU Council has invited the other twenty-six countries to express their views on the forthcoming ‘Omnibus’ proposals. A number of areas were therefore cited: rules on the authorisation of chemical products or their packaging, rules on packaging in the broader sense, the directive on waste water and public procurement.
The simplification effort must therefore be vast, according to almost all the Member States. Only Spain, Cyprus and Croatia warned against modifying previously adopted environmental protection and human rights objectives.
The ministers did not dwell on the first two ‘Omnibus’ packages and their content. A number of countries have welcomed the ‘stop the clock’ initiative, which will suspend the application of the CSDDD and CSRD directives while the substantive amendments are adopted.
The changes relating to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) were barely touched on. Some countries simply expressed their support for the one-year postponement.
With regard to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Slovenia, Ireland and Hungary have pointed out that a number of Member States have not yet transposed the text at national level. In September 2024, the European Commission opened infringement proceedings by sending a letter of formal notice to 17 Member States (see EUROPE 13491/29). “Some countries remain at a competitive disadvantage”, deplored Catherine Moran, the Irish Deputy Permanent Representative. to the EU.
To see the European Council’s draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/fwc (Original version in French by Léa Marchal and Anne Damiani)