Right-wing groups in the European Parliament – the Patriots for Europe, the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ENS) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – voted in favour of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) proposal to roll back on European Union sustainability and due diligence rules for companies.
The Patriots welcomed the “political shift in the European Parliament.”
However, the Left in the EP slammed what it saw as a “fascist-Conservative alliance”.
The proposal was passed today with 382 votes in favour and 249 against.
The omnibus bill amends both the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). They oblige companies to disclose detailed information on their entire supply chains, from carbon emissions and pollution to labour practices and human rights impacts.
Following the vote, the Patriots argued that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s EPP party has now joined a new majority to restore economic sovereignty in the EP.
“After months of work, the Patriots for Europe succeeded in reopening the legislative process that the establishment bloc sought to close,” said Patriots MEP Anders Vistisen.
“The EPP, recognising the failure of the previous coalition with Renew and the Socialists, has now joined a responsible majority focused on restoring Europe’s economic sovereignty and industrial base.
“This outcome demonstrates that a different course for Europe is not only possible but already taking shape,” he said.
ENS MEP Mary Khan welcomed what she called “the fall of the cordon sanitaire”.
“With the fall of the cordon sanitaire, a majority on the Right of the political spectrum have succeeded in weakening the harmful Green Deal legislation and delivering urgently needed relief for our businesses,” she said.
The Left in the EP said that this is “what may yet go down in history as an infamous turning point for Europe, a new alliance formed today between the EPP and the extreme-right”.
Socialist Finnish MEP Eero Heinäluoma accused the EPP of being a “far-right playmate”.
“Every European should now be deeply concerned about where the traditional centre-right is heading as it becomes the far right‘s playmate,” he said.
“This vote may have far-reaching consequences for cooperation politics throughout the entire electoral term.”
Renew MEP, Pascal Canfin, criticised the EP’s strategy of switching political alliances day by day.
“It is impossible to run the European Parliament with an alliance with Jordan Bardella on Monday, and with the centrists and social democrats on Tuesday. I deeply regret this choice,” he said.
He also takes a jab at the Left and pro-EU parties for rejecting a compromise that had been agreed upon in committee, calling it “playing with fire.”
The vote comes as the Brussels-based NGO The Good Lobby today launched what it calls a “far-right tracker,” taking aim at the EPP for cooperating with right-wing factions in the EP.
The NGO accused the EPP of “relying on the far-right” to push legislation and secure political wins.
The Good Lobby claims that the centre-right bloc has “institutionalised a tactical alliance of convenience” with parties to its Right.
“Whenever numbers are tight,” it said, “the EPP turns rightwards, normalising extremist positions and undermining Europe’s democratic core.”
