Deregulation Watch

Von der Leyen’s deregulation agenda was heavily inspired by corporate lobbying campaigns and it now provides unprecedented opportunities for corporate lobby groups to determine the shape of future EU legislation and roll back social and environmental standards in existing EU laws.

Corporate Europe Observatory has set up Deregulation Watch to help civil society monitor new developments in the deregulation agenda, assess what’s at stake, and organise in defense of strong social, environmental and human rights protections. 

We would be grateful for any insights on the EU deregulation offensive, including on corporate lobbying activities, that you may want to share with us. Insights can be sent to ceo[at]corporateeurope.org

- EU Commission’s Omnibus proposal: full-scale deregulation (26 February 2025) - as feared, the European Commission’s Omnibus package on three corporate sustainability laws presented earlier today goes far beyond ‘simplification’.  “Let’s be clear—this is not simplification, it is full-scale deregulation designed to dismantle corporate accountability and abandon the EU’s Green Deal commitments”, said Nele Meyer, Director of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ). The changes proposed by the European Commission, the ECCJ states, “are nothing short than a gutting of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), giving reckless corporations a free pass to operate without consequences”. The Commission’s proposal  was prepared in a “opaque, undemocratic procedure” and whereas “ big business lobbies were given privileged access to re-shape EU sustainability legislation, workers and communities most affected by corporate harm remained left out”. S&D MEP Lara Wolters calls the proposals “crude and badly thought-out, risking actually creating bureaucracy and uncertainty. This is what you get with a rushed process without sufficient consideration, consultation or expertise”. A legal expert called the Omnibus proposal “one of the worst written legislative drafts I have had to read”. The proposal was pushed through decision-making in a fast-track procedure and texts were only finalised shortly before the Commission’s press conference. The big question is now: will the European Parliament and Council save EU  corporate sustainability laws from full-scale deregulation?

- EU Commission presents detailed plans for unprecedented deregulation agenda, but resistance is growing (21 February 2025) - the 14-page “A simpler and faster Europe” document launched last week shows a further escalation of the European Commission’s deregulation plans. The communication reveals additional details on many of the Commission's 15+ deregulation tools that we’ve been tracking since last summer, confirming the Commission's intention to massively expand corporate control over EU decision-making and roll back EU regulations that protect people and the environment. In addition to the ‘Omnibus’ package (expected on February 26^th - re-opening and weakening recently agreed corporate accountability legislation), there will be a series of at least four other such packages coming later in the year (on investment, exemptions for mid-cap companies, digital legislation, agricultural policy, etc.). The communication still refers to the Commission’s intentions as ‘simplification’, but that’s clearly spin. In a letter to Commission President von der Leyen this week, the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament firmly rejects the Commission’s plans to re-open the Corporate Sustainability Due Dilligence Directive (CSDDD), pointing out that “none of these proposals can be described as mere simplification or streamlining, rather they are inherently and unambiguously deregulatory. They do not simply lower the level of ambition, they eliminate it”. The growing opposition among progressive MEPs is becoming a significant problem for von der Leyen, raising the question whether she will push through the Omnibus package with the support of the far-right. Meanwhile, in its work programme for 2025 - presented the same day as “A simpler and faster Europe” – the Commission unilaterally announced the withdrawal of several important pieces of public interest regulation that have been under discussion for years, including the AI Liability Directive and the Equal Treatment Directive (see Annexes).

- Tech Commissioner Virkkunen will implement AI Act ‘innovation-friendly’ following Big Tech lobbying (12 February 2025) - At the AI Action Summit, the EU Commissioner for tech sovereignity Virkkunen has said that the Commission will implement the AI Act “in an innovation friendly manner” and that as part of the upcoming omnibus proposals the Commission will simplify the rules and cut red tape on artificial intelligence and tech rules. “I’m also taking this criticism very seriously that we’re getting from SMEs and industry that we have too much bureaucracy and red tape”, Virkkunen said at the Summit. The statements come after aggressive lobbying by Big Tech firms. Minutes of lobbying meetings with the Virkunnen’s cabinet shows that Google, Facebook and the tech lobby group DOT Europe have all stepped up pressure against the voluntary code of practice on general purpose AI. Big Tech is successfully using the political momentum to water down EU regulation. The Draghi report has singled out the GDPR and the Artificial Intelligence Act as barriers to competitiveness. Big Tech has also weaponised the US government in order to push back against EU digital regulation. For instance, at the AI Action Summit, the US Vice-President JD Vance criticized the EU’s “massive regulation” and called for the deregulation of AI. Just one day after Vance’s speech, the EU Commissison withdrew the AI liability directive from its work programme.

- EU Commission plans to heavily water down recently agreed corporate accountability laws (7 February 2025) - this will happen as part of the Omnibus Simplification Bill, the new Commission's forthcoming proposal to rollback obligations for businesses under corporate accountability laws, the CSRD, CSDDD and the EU Taxonomy. According to Responsible Investor, the scope of the CSRD could be dramatically limited, so around 85% of the companies currently covered will be exempted. No less than 11 different aspects of the CSDDD might be re-opened, including climate transition plans and liabilities. A source mentioned that the planned changes fit the demands made by German, French and Italian big business lobby groups (see below). Meanwhile,  the Commission yesterday held an invite-only stakeholder roundtable to discuss the Omnibus package. SOMO had a look at the 30 companies on the guest list: "less than 15 percent of the companies attending are SMEs - the vast majority are multi-billion dollar multinational enterprises". No less than eight banks were invited, as well as four fossil fuel giants, including TotalEnergies, Eni, and ExxonMobil. Trade union IndustriAll Europe pointed out that “corporate lobbyists outnumbered representatives of trade unions and NGOs by five to one”. ETUC Deputy General Secretary Isabelle Schömann commented: “This is a deregulation agenda. The general interest as well as the human rights dimension are being totally overlooked in favour of the demands of a few big businesses with a history of violating workers’ rights and polluting the environment.” A large number of NGOs and trade unions gathered to protest outside of the Commission headquarters where the roundtable took place.

- Corporate lobby groups call for rollback of environmental standards (29 January 2025) - The Financial Times reports that a lobby letter by the main business lobby groups groups in France, Germany and Italy (BDI, Confindustria and MEDEF) demands the adjustment of EU laws “to match the standards of our competitors where appropriate” and for the forthcoming Omnibus law to go beyond cutting back only on reporting obligations. MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, vice-president of the liberal Renew group in the European parliament, "said that businesses were using the opportunity presented by Trump’s deregulatory agenda to call for cuts in Europe 'because a lot of them don’t like the environmental agenda'”. The letter calls "for the alignment of the EU’s regulatory framework with the realities of global competition", a clear call for lowering social and environmental standards.

- "Von der Leyen’s ‘Competitiveness Compass’: deregulation threatens social and environmental protection" (CEO press release, 29 January 2025): The European Commission's new Competitiveness Compass confirms widespread concerns that President Ursula von der Leyen's administration is unleashing a sweeping deregulation agenda— at the expense of democracy and social and environmental protections. The Competitiveness Compass defines corporate competitiveness as the Commission's overarching goal, with deregulation positioned as the key method to achieve it. The Competitiveness Compass speaks a clearer language than Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines from July, in that wording on “maintaining high standards” is practically absent. It is becoming crystal clear that ‘simplification’ is, in fact, about deregulation. The Compass, moreover, doubles down on giving corporate lobby groups far-reaching new powers to control EU decision-making.

- 17 steps towards deregulation (29 January, 2025): An updated version of CEO's overview of the many tools the Commission has adopted to strike, dilute, delay or prevent regulation in the coming years. 

- Resist Big Tech pressure for weakening of DSA and DMA enforcement (29 January 2025); 35+ public interest groups have urged EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and her colleagues to "resist political pressure from Big Tech companies and prioritise bold action to protect our democracy and economy. If the EU wants to uphold its sovereignty it must not pause or weaken the enforcement of its rules." "We have observed with increasing concern how the CEOs of US Big Tech companies have taken turns to ingratiate themselves with the Trump administration in part to mobilise it against EU rules such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), competition policy and the Digital Services Act (DSA)." "Europe must not be bullied by the likes of Musk and Trump into weakening its DSA and DMA enforcement."

- "EU Competitiveness Compass must safeguard social and environmental protections" (January 2025); in an open letter to European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen, 270 civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer groups, farmers organisations, civil rights groups and environmental organisations, call on the Commission to shun deregulation and prioritise the protection of people, nature, and democracy in its decision-making processes. This warning comes ahead of the announcement of the EU ‘Competitiveness Compass', which is supposed to guide the EU's efforts in enhancing its ‘economic competitiveness’. The press release for the statement points out that “Von der Leyen’s deregulation agenda is a corporate dream come true: reopening already agreed EU laws will give corporate lobby groups new opportunities to weaken social and environmental standards in laws that they dislike.“ 

- "Omnibus proposal will create costly confusion and lower protection for people and the planet" (January 2025); in a joint statement, over 160 NGOs and trade unions, insist the EU must show leadership in the protection of human rights, environment and climate, and prevent further setbacks to corporate accountability. The ongoing backlash against the EU’s sustainability framework comes at a time when business accountability is critically needed. The European Commission's proposal for an Omnibus law (expected in the end of February) will amend the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the Taxonomy Regulation.

- "Posted workers: Social costs of Commission plan outweigh savings" (November 2024); the trade union confederation ETUC has voiced its concerns about the Commission's proposal for a single EU system for the declaration of posted workers. Such a system could help ensure better compliance with and enforcement of rules, but the proposed regulation "clearly prioritises cutting costs for businesses at the expense of Europe’s most vulnerable group of workers". The ETUC points out that "the social cost of European Commission plans to weaken rules on the posting of workers will be far higher than the small savings which would be made by businesses." ETUC Deputy General Secretary Isabelle Schömann calls the proposal "a clear example of the false economy of the Commission’s Trump-style deregulation agenda."

- "16 steps towards deregulation - A guide to how the new Commission’s deregulation tools can undermine the public interest" (November 2024); based on analysis of key Commission documents and statements by Commissioners, we have identified 16 different new deregulation initiatives that the new European Commission is currently preparing. In this explainer, we have divided them into three categories: 1) systemic hurdles for EU level regulation – and roll-back – that will be applied across the board 2) regulatory escape routes that will allow companies to avoid regulation 3) hurdles for and roll-back of national level regulation.

- "Von der Leyen's 'mission letters' let slip deregulation agenda of next commissioners" (op-ed October 2024); CEO went through Von der Leyen’s priorities for each of the candidate-commissioners (the Mission Letters). We found over 15 different tools for systemic deregulation and slashing standards; most new, others harsher versions of existing ones. In this op-ed, we zoom in on a handful of the most worrying components of the deregulation machine that von der Leyen intends to construct. 

- The EU's deregulation frenzy: what's at stake? (episode of EU Watchdog Radio,  October 2024); Double deregulation, competitiveness checks, rule of law or the omnibus law, it can all sound like technocratic gibberish, but they are all pieces of the downward spiral in social standards that are in immediate risk. But this social dumping is not the only challenge ahead, the same applies to environmental protection. This episode takes us beyond these unpronounceable words to discuss what is really at stake and what civil society should do about it.

- 'Competitiveness': inside the troubling corporate blueprint for the coming Commission (September 2024):  the Commission’s plans for the next five years shows ‘competitiveness’ will be the uncontested yardstick for the EU. This is a big win for corporate lobby groups like the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) and BusinessEurope. Their lobby campaigns have resulted in heavy fingerprints all over Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's political guidelines, which set out the main priorities for the next five years. As a consequence, we risk a disastrous half-decade of deregulation, while climate change, the environment, equality and social rights are put on the backburner – all in the name of ‘competitiveness’.