The European Ombudsman has published the preliminary outcome of an investigation into the EU Omnibus package — aimed at simplifying climate policies — finding the European Commission to have "failed to act in an accountable manner" and issuing new recommendations.
The case was brought to the Ombudsman earlier this year by eight non-governmental organisations (NGOs), citing concerns over the lack of an impact assessment and a public consultation before the European Commissions proposed to simply EU climate policies in February.
Criticism from the Ombudsman centred around the notion of "urgency", which the European Commission used as main argument for its decision to press ahead with the legislative process and apply exemptions to typical procedures.
But the Commission "adopted a broad interpretation of ‘urgency' and failed to sufficiently justify the ‘urgency' of the legislative proposals", Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho said. In addition to that, no climate consistency assessments were published in a clear manner when adopting the new proposals, as required by European climate law. "This cannot be good administration", the Ombudsman's assessment concluded.
The recommendations focus on the need to clarify the definition of ‘urgency' and to keep an accurate record of all internal decisions when exceptions are made, along with clear explanations of the rationale behind them.
NGO ClientEarth, one of the signatories of the initial complaint to the Ombudsman, welcomed the findings, warning "this is not the Wild West - the EU institutions must follow basic democratic principles". It also urged policy makers to carry out a full impact assessment in light of the findings, adding that "if this cannot be secured, the [EU] Commission should withdraw its proposal".
But the NGO also recognised that "while influential, the European Ombudsman cannot enforce decisions".
Omnibus latest
Earlier this month, the European Parliament voted in favour of relaxing corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence duties even further than what was envisaged by the legal affairs committee in October.
For environmental reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the new negotiating position calls for narrowing the scope to entities with more than 1,750 employees, up from the previous 1,000, with reporting standards further simplified and reduced.
Due diligence requirements would still apply to companies with more than 5,000 employees and a net annual turnover of over €1.5bn, in line with previous proposals, but businesses would no longer have to prepare transition plans to align their activities with the Paris Agreement.
Negotiations with EU governments are currently underway, with an aim to finalise the legislation by the end of this year.
