Trade unionists and green campaigners staged a protest in Brussels today to tell the European Commission to ‘slam the brakes’ on its Omnibus package which is driving Europe towards deregulation that will weaken workers’ rights and environmental protections.
A banner reading “EU Omnibus: destination deregulation” was unfurled outside the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters and bus tickets reading “workers denied boarding” were distributed to people coming and going from the building. Free to use photos can be found here:
The protest was staged on the eve of the expected publication of the first in a series of controversial ‘Omnibus’ bills designed to reopen and weaken a range of laws at the request of corporate lobbyists. The first stage will target two directives that protect workers and the planet:
- Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) which requires large companies to identify and mitigate risks of human rights and environmental violations, and to remediate instances these impacts when they occur. It applies to about 5,500 EU and non-EU companies with at least 1,000 employees and €450 million annual turnover.
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which expands existing laws that creates an obligation for large companies to report on the impact on the environment of the companies’ operations.
It was the second demonstration this month against the Omnibus deregulation drive. The first protest was staged outside the rigged ‘consultation’ to which the Commission invited five times as many corporate lobbyists as representatives of trade unions or NGOs.
The ‘Omnibus’ package does not comply with the Commission’s own Better Regulation rules, which commit to “evidence-based, transparent EU law-making”. Before passing new laws, the Commission is also supposed to undertake a proper impact assessment.
ETUC Deputy General Secretary Isabelle Schömann said:
“The Commission must put the brakes on the Omnibus, which is allowing big business to take the wheel and drive us towards deregulation that will weaken workers’ rights and environmental protections.
“The draft omnibus goes far beyond what anyone could reasonably call ‘simplification’ - it is outright deregulation. There is no attempt to strike a balance between the needs of users of sustainability information and companies.
“The European Commission has a duty to make laws in the general interest but it is currently acting in violation of its own Better Regulation rules to rewrite legislation, solely in the interests of corporations.
“Nobody should forget that the directives at risk were introduced under President von der Leyen to prevent a repeat of the Rana Plaza disaster in which over 1,100 people lost their lives because companies did not do their due diligence on abuses in their supply chains.
“The Commission should not put at the risk the lives of working people around the world. A proper industrial policy backed up with proper investment is what will make the difference to the competitiveness of European companies – not deregulation.”
Notes
Photos of the demonstration can be found here: Omnibus protest 25 Feb | Flickr
