A majority of the European Parliament has spoken out in favor of significantly weakening the EU Supply Chain Directive.
382 MPs voted for the project, 249 voted against it, and 13 abstained. Among other things, the requirements should only apply to a few very large companies in the future and there should be no obligation to develop climate plans. Parliament can now begin final negotiations with the EU states about the project.
“Today is a good day for Europe’s competitiveness,” said EPP group leader Manfred Weber (CSU) after the vote. The EPP group, which also includes the CDU and CSU, the Social Democrats (S&D) and the Liberals had actually agreed on a compromise weeks ago.
Secret vote three weeks ago
In a secret vote, however, this did not find a majority, which led to some strong criticism. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) called Parliament’s decision “unacceptable” and called for a correction.
After the vote, many in Parliament assumed that the S&D did not vote unanimously for the compromise. In the end, three weeks ago there were only a few votes missing from a majority. Hundreds of amendments were now submitted by the political groups, which were voted on one after the other.
After the majority was found, Green MP Anna Cavazzini spoke of a border crossing. For the first time, Weber’s EPP had deliberately and calculatedly pushed a law through parliament with the votes of the extreme right, said the MP.
Some of the amendments to weaken the plan would not have found a majority without the votes of the right-wing MPs.