The European Parliament’s left-wing Socialists and Democrats (S&D) are ramping up the pressure on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accusing her of weakening the EU Green Deal by promising to reduce red tape for businesses. With the Commission set to unveil its “omnibus” bill on February 26th, making minor cuts to the bureaucratic burden, the S&D is scrambling to prevent von der Leyen from shifting closer to conservative demands. Not that this shift has ever happened.
The proposed legislation will simplify corporate sustainability reporting rules, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The changes are relatively small and even less efficient. Von der Leyen insists they will not compromise environmental goals, but the S&D is in panic mode as she appears to pay lip service to demands from conservative groups.
René Repasi, head of the German Socialists, warned that von der Leyen’s Commission has two choices:
Liaise with Parliament and present a proposal “that can find a majority in the center” or “play games and to come up with a chainsaw proposal which will polarize this house and which will actually lead into unpredictable majorities.”
This statement about “unpredictable majorities” reflects the S&D’s anxiety about a potential break of the cordon sanitaire that excludes conservative groups like Patriots for Europe (PfE) and sometimes also the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)—both advocating for suspending the Green Deal. The firewall might break soon but would it be thanks to von der Leyen? No.
europeanconservative.com reported yesterday on a leaked S&D strategy document which reveals the party’s behind-the-scenes efforts to keep von der Leyen’s centrist European People’s Party (EPP) firmly aligned with the Left. The strategy includes tactics to exclude right-wing MEPs from positions of influence, ridicule their statements, and punish the EPP if it collaborates with them.
Critics from the conservative bloc have condemned the S&D’s tactics as undemocratic. Danish MEP Anders Vistisen (PfE) stated, “This is the first time that they’re afraid of losing the cordon sanitaire, because the EPP cannot abandon their core voters anymore.”
The EPP now faces a choice: keep their alliance with the Left or listen to voters who want a definitive shift to the Right. However, as last week’s debate on the topic showed, von der Leyen’s centrist party seems to have already made up its mind. Members of the EPP not only bowed under the pressure and reinforced their commitment to the Left but even stressed that the only reason they would grant a few concessions on migration or climate was to prevent the further rise of “extremists”—and not because their voters expect them to.
