The Members of the European Parliament agreed with the Member States on the first text of the ‘omnibus’ package: they adopted the ‘Stop the Clock’ directive, which postpones the CSDDD and CSRD directives by one and two years respectively (531 votes in favour, 69 against and 17 abstentions). The EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups finally agreed to adopt the text without amendment. None of the amendments tabled by The Left, ECR and PfE were adopted. This will enable the co-legislators to adopt the directive quickly, since the EU Council has not adopted any amendments either (see EUROPE 13608/3).
“It’s clear that constructive forces in Parliament are ready to begin work on real simplification measures”, said the rapporteur for the ‘Stop the Clock’ directive, Tomas Tobé (EPP, Swedish).
The fate of this text in the European Parliament was still uncertain on the eve of the vote, but an agreement was reached between the four so-called ‘von der Leyen majority’ groups, i.e. those who had agreed at the end of 2024 to approve the candidacy of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The groups that make up this majority – EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA – also call themselves the “centre majority” or the “pro-European majority”, excluding PfE and ECR. However, the exclusion of the latter group is not obvious for the EPP, insofar as these two political families are united on certain issues.
Cooperation with ECR, on the other hand, is a red line for the other groups. The “pro-European majority” finally agreed on a broad formula, calling on the ECR group to act constructively in the process of future discussions on the ‘omnibus’ package. This formula was convincing to the S&D and the Greens/EFA, with the exception of a few elected members.
“Today, we laid the first stones for a concrete cooperation at the centre of the Parliament to ensure stability and legal certainty for the negotiations on this package and beyond for the whole mandate”, said a delighted Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German). The agreement reached guarantees that “the spirit and the objectives of the legislations on due diligence and sustainability reporting will remain”.
Also at Renew Europe, Pascal Canfin (French) welcomes the agreement reached and what it means for the future: “We are trying to approach this ‘omnibus’ reform from the centre and not divide the pro-European groups”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)