Overview
- MEPs raised coverage thresholds to companies with more than 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in turnover, limiting the rules to the largest firms.
- Adopted amendments drop mandatory corporate climate action plans and allow for milder sanctions for non-compliance.
- The majority combined the center-right European People’s Party with right-wing groups including EKR, PfE, Rassemblement National and ESN, whose members include the AfD.
- EVP leader Manfred Weber defended the vote as a move to cut red tape and denied reliance on far-right support, with SPD MEP René Repasi acknowledging AfD votes were not decisive.
- SPD chair Bärbel Bas condemned the strategy as a “fatal signal,” while CDU leader Friedrich Merz pointed to a hoped-for centrist majority on the final deal after negotiations.