The first term of European Commission Chairman Ursula von Der Leyen’s first term in the office between 2019 and 2024 was a Bona Fid Regulation Spree. With his landmark European Green Deal, he enacted a law in dozens of areas to install the European Union on the track to emit “Net Zero” by 2050 and helped to avoid the worst situation climate destruction.
But time has changed, and political priorities with them. The major ambitious climate of the European Union’s Executive Branch is on a deragulation drive to hold European businesses one evening with its US and Chinese counterparts.
On Wednesday, the European Union officials re -written several recent laws to unveil the plan to reduce the burden of bureaucracy on companies, in a move that deteriorated with the voices of the environment and rights preachers and even some industry.
On the same day, the European Commission set its goal of stimulating € 100 billion ($ 105 billion) investment drives in clean industrial technologies, ie with the aim of promoting the European Union competition.
What is the European Commission really proposed?
Solidly, the European Commission wants to reduce the rules that businesses must follow on stability impact reporting and supply chain responsibility, written in several pieces of already agreed law. It is particularly small and medium -sized enterprises that the European Union’s executive branch says that she wants to give relief.
For example, change, corporate stability reporting will absent about 80% of the currently covered by reporting instructions: all with less than 1,000 employees. They will not face strict annual reporting requirements to any Longer that determines the law.
Plans want to delay the implementation of a proper diligence law by 2028, weakening the obligations of the firms to investigate indirect suppliers for compliance with environment and human rights.
The European Union Executive Branch, which aims to reduce administrative burden on businesses by 2029 and even up to 35% for small businesses, its plans can save administrative costs € 6 billion per year.
In the same vein, the European Commission planned to drum € 100 billion in public and private investment to support heavy industry and manufacturing, such as steel, and renewable energy production. Under the underlying objective here is to reduce energy costs for European businesses and homes.
Why is Leyen doing this now?
Wednesday’s announcements are originated in his major focus in the office for 2024-2029 work of von dera leyen: competition. Over the years, European Union officials have imagined a strong warning that the block is losing its economic lead.
The Commission last month wrote in a document in a document last month to establish its vision to deal with the case in the next month, “For more than two decades, Europe did not keep pace with other major economies.
“The European Union has demolished the US in advanced technologies, while China has caught in many areas, and some new development is winning the race for leadership in AES. The root cause is a lacquer of innovation.”
It echoed the words of former European Central Bank President Mario Dragi, who warned in September 2024 that the “existence challenge” for the European Union lacked productivity growth.
In the US, President Donald Trump has recently announced his own deragulation, pledging to prevent “job-killing and inflation-driving regulator Blitz last month. [previous] Administration.”
At the same time, the European Union is afraid of growing trade war with the US in Tight-after-Tat Tatur.
What do environment and rights propaganders say?
Campaign groups are not affected by the new shock of the chairman of the Commission for regulatory simplification. Oxfam German lawyer Franziska Hambert wrote in a statement on Wednesday, “Leyen is taking a chain for environment and human rights security.”
There is a provision to dial corporate citizen liability outside the European Union, especially for non-governmental organizations, as well as only suppliers have to reduce the lack of proper hard work for direct suppliers.
The European coalition for corporate justies wrote, “Companies would not have any compulsion to identify possible losses and potential losses beyond their immediate contracts – even if human rights and environmental misconducts are widely informed and focusing the lower part of the supply chains.”
What does business voice have to say about it?
A leading supporting industry lobby, Businesseurope, welcomed the planned rules changes. Director Marcus Breare said in a statement, “Better with low and clear criteria, all size European companies are asking.”
“By reducing unnecessary reporting and regulator burden, [the changes] Protecting the competition of the European Union economy, companies will allow companies to contribute more effectively to the stability objectives of the European Union.
But it was only pushing the environmentalists back. Some commercial voices warned against the sowing against the confusion by renovating the already agreed rules.
A recent joint letter signed by dozens of businesses including Ikea, H&M Group and Decathlon states that “deregulation, whether through reducing environment or social standards, rethinking international committees, or reducing the climate ambition of the European Union is a stable and predicted legal danger.
what comes next?
The proposals of the European Commission should still be signed by the European Parliament and the member states of the European Union. Members of the European Parliament will probably come under intense pressure from lobists and campaigners in the coming months, trying to shape the final result of the proposal.
Edited by: Anne Thomas
