The ETUC is increasingly concerned about the inability of the Council to agree political compromises. The latest example is the failure by governments to adopt the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
Governments still have a two-week window to show political courage. The ETUC is calling for a vote in favour before the end of the European Parliament’s current mandate.
Following a historic political agreement reached in December 2023, today’s vote is another serious setback for the EU. It leads to the fragmentation of the internal market, denying some member states and sustainable businesses fair competition, legal certainty and predictability, while others like France and German already have Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence legislation.
Isabelle Schömann, Deputy General Secretary of the ETUC, said:
“Member states have sent the most dramatic message possible to millions of workers, consumers and citizens in Europe and the world.
“With this decision, they put businesses above the law, providing them impunity. They are basically providing themselves and in particular to EU and third-country companies and their subsidiaries a blank cheque to continue to violate human rights, in particular trade union and workers’ rights.
“All the more worrying is that today’s no-voters and abstainers did so based internal national political and dogmatic arguments. This shamefully amounts to trading the fundamental rights of millions of people in Europe and the world.
“ETUC is liaising with its affiliates, allies in the European Parliament and International NGO alliances to mobilise for the next moves as this battle to hold businesses accountable for the human and environmental rights violations is far from over, on the contrary.”
