Civil society groups and unions are nervous about the political turn taken by the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen’s second presidency, and warn its new Competitiveness Compass could steer it away from green deal aspirations and workers’ rights.
The Commission wants to liberate businesses from the burden of regulation by ‘simplifying’ the gamut of European law, but some fear the EU executive’s new watchword is a euphemism for deregulation.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) declined an invitation for ‘social partners’ to endorse the Competitiveness Compass presented on Wednesday (29 January), saying it had not been consulted on the EU executive’s new blueprint for economic growth, and that the plan would “undermine jobs, rights and standards”.
The union umbrella group – while declaring itself “fully on board’ with the need to increase Europe’s competitiveness – singled out a call for pensions reforms and measures to promote longer working lives, and said the plan would channel money towards corporations without any social conditions.
It also slammed as “a recipe for disaster” the Commission’s resurrection of an old idea for a ‘28th legal regime’ that would allow companies to operate outside the 27 different EU jurisdictions through a supranational system of corporate, insolvency, labour and tax law – in part to address Europe’s apparent weakness when it comes to tech start-ups.
“While it’s welcome to have a first step towards a European industrial policy, this first draft needs significant negotiation and revision,” ETUC general secretary Esther Lynch said. “A bonfire of regulations that will make workplaces less safe or force people to work into their seventies isn’t going to be what saves companies.”
Environmental groups were similarly conflicted about the von der Leyen Commission’s new economic strategy – often supporting the aim, but questioning the means.
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe recognised the EU executive’s commitment to the 2050 net-zero emissions target, but doubted whether the new Compass would point industry in the right direction.
“While we welcome the Commission’s renewed commitment to building out clean energy infrastructure like grids and storage, the Compass falls short on phasing out all fossil fuels — whether from Russia or elsewhere — and fully utilising energy savings, the two missing elements of an affordable, resilient energy system,” CAN Europe head of energy Cornelia Maarfield said.
Other campaign groups were concerned by the near absence of any reference to environmental issues beyond climate action.
“By taking aim at the recently agreed corporate sustainability reporting framework…and hinting at further deregulation across critical policy areas, the Commission threatens to undermine progress on the green transition,” said Ester Asin, director of WWF’s European Policy Office.
The president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, Bas Eickhout, also applauded the goal of boosting Europe’s competitiveness, but argued that this should be done by implementing, not dismantling, the raft of climate and environmental policy adopted under the first von der Leyen Commission.
“We have concerns that the Compass is too narrowly focused on CO2 reduction alone and not on protecting nature,” Eickhout said. “Inaction on environmental protection and reducing pollution will stymie our competitiveness and growth if it continues to be ignored.”
For the director of the influential lobby group BusinessEurope, Markus Beyrer, the Commission had provided the “clear directions” the EU needs which must now be followed by “concrete actions”.
“These actions have to prioritise reducing regulatory burdens and cutting red tape in order to deliver on the promise to make it easier to do business in Europe,” Beyrer said.
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