Negotiators from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament were hoping to reach a provisional agreement on the ‘omnibus I’ simplification package, which amends the CSDDD and CSRD directives on corporate due diligence and sustainability, at the end of the second negotiation meeting (‘trilogue’) on Monday 8 December. Although discussions were continuing at the time of going to press (8pm), the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU was expecting an agreement between the co-legislators, who wanted to make rapid progress on this text from the outset.
Three points of divergence remained before the start of the trilogue, according to one source: - the inclusion of climate transition plans in the CSDDD directive; - whether or not there is an obligation to terminate an economic relationship following the discovery of a violation of rights in the value chain; - the scope of the CSRD directive.
In all three cases, the European Parliament’s position is to limit the constraints on businesses.
One possibility for the Danish Presidency was to make a move towards the European Parliament on the last two points; in exchange, MEPs could go back on their idea of completely removing climate transition plans from the CSDDD directive. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)