“We challenge the [European] Commission’s hasty dismantling of three key pillars of the Green Deal--including laws designed to improve the environmental and human impacts of global trade--a process that completely ignores the rights of people and nature,” say eight NGOs in a press release. They are: the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, ClientEarth, Notre Affaire À Tous, Clean Clothes Campaign, Global Witness, T&E, Anti-Slavery International and Friends of the Earth Europe. “The Omnibus proposal was drawn up without any public consultation, marginalising civil society, lacking evidence and environmental and social impact assessments, and favouring the narrow interests of industry. This irresponsible approach not only weakens sustainability rules, but also undermines public confidence in the EU’s democratic foundations.”

The NGOs, supported in Luxembourg by the Initiative pour un Devoir de Vigilance (the Duty of Vigilance Initiative), criticise the European executive for:

—failing to properly gather evidence and assess the environmental and social impacts of changing company laws designed to protect EU citizens and beyond

—bypassing wide consultation in favour of closed-door meetings dominated by oil and gas industry interests (the content of which has only been revealed by )

—failing to assess whether its proposal is in line with the EU’s climate neutrality objective, in breach of its obligations under EU climate law

“This so-called simplification does nothing to improve competitiveness; the European Commission is ignoring both the evidence and the science,” say the NGOs. “Strong sustainability laws, such as the SDSR and the CRSR, are essential to the EU’s competitive edge in a global market where consumers and investors are increasingly demanding responsible action from business. We have seen time and again that vague promises by companies do not bring about the necessary change. Weakening environmental and human rights requirements is a step in the wrong direction.”

The NGOs have lodged an appeal with the European Ombudsperson, who will listen to the arguments of both sides before finding a solution. Recently, a complaint of the same type enabled Europeans interested in meetings on cybersecurity at European level to finally have access to documents that the European Commission had refused to share with them. In other recent cases, the Ombudsperson considered that Brussels had not breached its obligations.

The subject continues to be divisive: some NGOs have pointed out that the changes and postponements have only satisfied a minority of businesses; some large companies have already made the investments and done the work necessary to be in order; and some SMEs feel that the Omnibus adds an unbearable layer of bureaucracy to them. Prime minister  (CSV) has echoed the lattermost complaint, that the EU “has gone overboard with regulation” after Fedil president Georges Rassel called for a three-year freeze on the adoption of the European texts. His reasoning was that the EU’s tweaks and changes have brought legal and operational uncertainty to businesses that already have enough to deal with in the face of ecological and technological transitions.

For their part, the NGOs are calling on the European Parliament and the European Council to reject the Omnibus proposal as-is. The European Council for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) is urgently calling on the EU Council and Parliament to ensure that, in the forthcoming legislative negotiations, the Omnibus proposal is revised to ensure that any amendments to weaken the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are rejected. Says the ECCJ, any discussion on the CSDDD should be strictly limited to interpretative measures, such as guidelines and delegated acts, and the legal text itself should not be subject to any revision. With regard to the CSRD, the European Parliament and the Council should lower the thresholds for the companies concerned and grant medium-sized companies a proportionate standard. Limitations on data requests should be rethought.

While the Duty of Vigilance Initiative has hitherto indicated that the texts concern only a tiny proportion of European companies, at a press conference on 17 April 2025--as published in this week’s edition of the Lëtzebuerger Land--the cost of implementing these regulations would have been just 0.13% of the dividends paid to shareholders, according to one of the initiative’s coordinators, Jean-Louis Zeyen, who adds that at the same time dividends have risen by 74% since 2014.

This article in French.