(by Sabina Rosset) The EU Council has failed to approve the European directive on 'Corporate Due Diligence', the reform to oblige large companies to have social and environmental sustainability not only in the Union, but also on a global level, taking into account human rights, of workers and the environmental impact of suppliers or commercial partners.
After the agreement already reached in mid-December with the negotiators of the European Parliament, the Member States made a sensational about-face.
An event that should be rare in the 'liturgies' of the European institutions, even if changes of position are multiplying recently, in some 'last minute' negotiating breakthroughs in Berlin, but also in the stop seen only a few days ago to the directive on riders already approved by the negotiators.
There is now great anticipation for the regulation on packaging which will come to the inter-institutional negotiation between the Eurocamera and the Council on Monday ('trilogue') and about which Italy remains sceptical.
In light of the strong social and ecological costs, not balanced by optimal environmental solutions.
At the level of ambassadors, however, some exemptions have already been requested from the presidency by various states today, we'll see.
On 'Due diligence', meanwhile, even without a formal vote from what has leaked from diplomatic sources among the large Member States, Germany's support has faded, and Italy has positioned itself to abstain for fear of the repercussions that the current text would have on a economy that has already had to deal with crises.
The turning point, however, would have occurred above all in a U-turn by France, which asked the Belgian presidency to significantly renegotiate the thresholds for applying the reform: well beyond the companies with 500 employees and 150 million in turnover envisaged in the inter-institutional agreement signed in December.
"It would be unfair to attribute the failure to approve the text to a particular member state", explained other diplomatic sources, pointing out that "many" states had opposed the directive.
Among others, Finland asked for an amendment, Austria said it could not comment today.
Support was ultimately lacking from 15 states (only Sweden is openly against it).
Given the lack of a qualified majority (14 countries with at least 65% of the population) the Prime Minister therefore withdrew the point.
The current Belgian presidency at the helm of the EU has explained that the situation will now be re-evaluated to see whether "it is possible to address the concerns raised by the Member States, in consultation with the European Parliament".
An agreement in time for approval at the last plenary session of the European Chamber in April, before the elections, is not impossible.
The rapporteur for the European Parliament on the directive, the Dutch S&D MEP Lara Wolters, meanwhile reacted by saying she was "indignant" by what happened, denounced the "significant pressure" of businesses on states and defined the position that emerged from the EU Council as "very worrying". , which "does not respect the European Parliament as a whole as a legislator" and "undermines the trust necessary to reach agreements".
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