🙅YOU ARE NOT INVITED

The EU locomotive is moving, but who’s on board? The new EU Commission has put its machinery on track, guided by the so-called Competitiveness Compass. President von der Leyen has insisted that the new trajectory won’t derail the Green Deal’s objectives. But now that the white smoke from the starting engines is clearing, a troubling curve in the track is emerging — one that diverts Europe away from sustainable prosperity and straight into the pockets of corporate laggards.  

🚨 ALL THE ALARMS RAISED 

“Business Inside, People Not Invited,” read the banner held up by NGOs, including the EEB, trade unions and everyone else standing up in front of the EU Commission yesterday. Inside, the Commission held an invite-only stakeholder roundtable to discuss the ‘Omnibus Simplification Package’, a process that should have included public consultation… Instead, the guest list was stacked with big banks, oil giants, and corporate lobbyists, while NGOs and even businesses supportive of the Green Deal were conveniently left out. 

Simplifying democracy too? It appears that the Commission intends to present the Omnibus proposal on 26 February, branding it as an “unprecedented simplification effort”. The lack of public consultation and transparency undermines the Commission’s own Better Regulation Guidelines and flies in the face of the EU’s Democratic Principles. Our concerns in full. 

What’s the Omnibus? The Omnibus is the new Commission’s proposal to rollback reporting obligations for businesses under corporate accountability laws, the CSRD, CSDDD and the EU Taxonomy. In reality, what it risks is stripping these hard-earned laws of their ability to protect people and the planet from corporate harm. 

If it is meant to be a gift to businesses, it is no more than a cadeau empoissoné, poised to cause confusion, distort competition, and punish first movers. Hundreds of stakeholders, including over 200 financial market actors with over €6.6 trillion in assets under management, are raising the alarm bells and have called on the Commission to “preserve the integrity and ambition of the EU’s sustainable finance framework.”

We crashed the party. Once we realised our invite had probably not gotten lost in the post, we put our pride aside and decided to invite ourselves. But inside the outlook was not much brighter for civil society. The EEB requested to speak but was denied, while certain business representatives were given the floor twice in the same timeframe. 

While very little detail was shared on the substance of the Commission’s plans in the closed-door roundtable, some leaks suggest that the Omnibus proposal will be far more than a 25% regulatory trim to streamline reporting requirements. If you’re like us, all of this might make you wonder whether simplification is just a smokescreen for deregulation for the sake of deregulation rather than anything actually based on fact, impact assessment or proper consultation. Stay tuned! 

🔥 RE-OPENING GREEN LAWS COULD BE HELL!  

Ah, damn — here we go again. The EU’s ‘new’ economic vision for this mandate inevitably leaves a sense of déjà vu in the air. Competitiveness. Simplification. Buzzwords masking yet another deregulatory push, this time aimed squarely at Green Deal policies in the name of “economic prosperity.” 

From mythos to logos – The Commission argues that cutting 25% of regulation would alleviate Europe’s economic struggles. YET there is no evidence that environmental regulations hinder productivity. In fact, the European Investment Bank (EIB) reports that the largest barriers to investment are high energy costs, labour shortages, and economic uncertainty — not regulation. Many businesses actually see climate regulation as an opportunity, not a threat. 

Regulatory chaos – Regulations aren’t just red tape. They protect us from toxic chemicals, pollution and corporate abuses. They also provide stability, spurring investment and innovation. Reopening agreed laws before they’ve even been implemented creates uncertainty, penalising businesses that have already invested in the green transition. 

Boosts, not breaks – Yes, EU rules are far from perfect, and who doesn’t want to simplify things where that makes sense? But setting an arbitrary target of ‘25% less regulation’ is reckless. Not only for people and the environment, but also for Europe’s competitiveness. While China and others continue to move forward, Europe risks losing a competitive advantage in the net-zero race. Instead of gutting rules, Europe should streamline processes, beef up administrative capacity, and fully implement the Green Deal at the national level. 

The real challenge isn’t “too much regulation.” It’s making sure the rules work efficiently. Trade unions, environmental NGOs, and consumer organisations have common ground here. But to streamline processes, all voices must be heard, not just corporate lobbyists…

🌿 STAY ON THE TRANSFORMATIVE COURSE 

Growing a positive future – 2025 has the potential to be a BIG year for EU food and farming as the Commission is set to publish its ‘Vision for agriculture and food’, following the groundbreaking consensus reached last year where farmers, agri-food industry, and NGOs (including yours truly) concluded that “business as usual is not an option”. How to achieve this? We have some recommendations, and ‘deregulation’ is *shockingly* not one of them. As part of the Commission’s new high-level agri-food advisory board, we are working hard to build on this success for the benefit of farmers, nature, and consumers. Watch this space. 

📢 GLOBAL CRACKDOWN ON CIVIL SOCIETY 

Serbian protests continue – Since last summer, repression against NGOs, grassroots activists, students, and independent journalists in Serbia has intensified — marked by surveillance, detentions, and unchecked violence from para-state groups. Meanwhile, tens of thousands continue to take to the streets for the third month in a row following the tragic Novi Sad train station collapse, which killed 15 people. Their demand? Transparency and accountability. We stand in full solidarity with those protesting for justice and denounce the arrests of peaceful demonstrators. There is no democracy without the right to protest safely. A reflection from our colleague. 

South Korea: Activists detained – On 30 November, four Greenpeace activists — Al, Ash, Jens, and Sam — boarded a tanker at Hyundai Daesan Refinery in South Korea to protest the toxic plastic trade. Their message was clear: world leaders at the nearby INC5 negotiations in Busan must take urgent action to end plastic pollution. The activists were detained for nearly two days and remain under investigation, barred from leaving South Korea indefinitely. Captain Hettie of the Rainbow Warrior is also being prevented from departing. Take action—sign the petition here. 

Don’t walk alone – From Brussels to Belgrade, a coordinated push to silence civil society is underway. Without watchdogs, democracy crumbles. Without active, organised civil society, democratic institutions slide into kleptocracy. We stand firm in solidarity with all those defending civic space — because when civil society is under attack, so is democracy itself. Having faced attacks and disinformation campaigns towards the EEB over recent weeks, we know how frustrating it is to waste time and precious resources on distractions when there’s so much real, urgent work to be done.

NGO funding fact-check – If you’ve been following our newsletters, you’ll know about the politically driven campaign targeting public funding for environmental NGOs in recent weeks. On Monday, we held a press conference with journalists from across Europe and civil society colleagues to set the record straight. We did and flipped the narrative, and we highly recommend this fact-check by Politico and this piece by The Guardian. 

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By: Alberto Vela. Special thanks to the EEB’s editorial team: Alberto Vela, Ruby Silk, Ben Snelson, Roi Gomez, Carlotta Di Pasquale. Editor: Christian Skrivervik