Brussels – The European Commission’s simplification effort is facing its real test, or rather eight tests, the number of simplification packages presented in less than a year in Brussels, in line with the commitments made at the start of the year. The latest, unveiled today (9 December), is perhaps the most significant step back: that on environmental legislation that was at the heart of Ursula von der Leyen’s first term as head of the executive. The aim is to cut costs by up to a billion euros a year for businesses and farmers.
The changes proposed by EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall are horizontal in scope, affecting a series of laws that form part of the European Green Deal framework. However, in addition to the legislative proposals, which imply the reopening of laws already passed and the risk of drift in negotiations between the co-legislators, the European Commission also aims to reduce red tape through guidelines, orientations, and implementing acts.
The first pillar of the package is a regulation to accelerate environmental assessments and licensing procedures. A regulation that fits into the existing framework – covering impact assessments, strategic assessments, the EU water framework, the Birds Directive, and
the Habitats Directive – through which the Commission aims to save around 180 million per year.
The second pillar is more slippery. It envisages reopening a number of laws. The aim is to cut red tape, but, as the Commission assures, this will be done without undermining environmental standards. Specifically, up for revision are the Waste Framework Directive, the directives on industrial emissions and medium-sized combustion plants, the regulations on batteries and waste batteries, and the directive on reporting environmental data from industrial plants. Through some targeted changes to these laws, the EU aims to cut costs by 400 million euros per year. In addition, the European Commission suggests suspending the environmental policy obligations of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)—which makes manufacturers responsible for the entire life cycle of their products—as well as certain provisions of the e-waste directive. This is projected to deliver annual savings of around 300 million euros.
To reach the headline figure of 1 billion euros a year in cost cuts for businesses and farmers, a whole series of procedural streamlinings is to be implemented through guidelines and delegated acts. That is, without reopening legislative texts approved with immense effort during the last legislature. This is the case, for example, with the Nature Restoration Act or the Packaging Regulation.
Given the most recent cases—the reopening of the law on imported deforestation and the Omnibus I package on simplifying corporate due diligence—it can be expected that Member States and the European Parliament will try to push for a more decisive retreat from the green legislation of the past five years. The Commission itself appears open to such changes, as demonstrated just today with the acceptance of watered-down sustainability reporting and company due diligence rules promoted by right-wing political groups.
Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for the Environment, has no doubts: “Today’s package upholds our environmental standards, reduces administrative burden and eases implementation.” This, she assures, “will help us deliver on our ambitious environmental goals and future-proof our resilience.” She also assures that sustainability commitments will not be sacrificed. On the contrary, “There is no contradiction between high environmental standards and competitiveness; these are two sides of the same coin.”
A concept taken up and relaunched by the Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis: “Today’s omnibus proposal shows what simplification is all about: reducing administrative burden for businesses, while at the same time maintaining our high standards.” With this initiative, “we are listening to our businesses’ call and taking another step in the right direction.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
