The European Parliament today approved by 366 votes in favour, (225 votes against and 38 abstentions) its position on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Henrike Hahn, Bavarian member of the European Parliament (The Greens/EFA), deputy member of the Economic and Monetary Committee and deputy speaker of the German delegation of the Greens, comments on today's vote:

"We have come one step closer towards a European law for sustainable supply chains - the campaign of the EPP group against 'ecological' and 'social' content was rejected by a clear majority of the European Parliament. This is dinosaur politics to reject to combine competitiveness with sustainability.

The collaboration of the Christian Democrats with far-right parties to attack European legislation is undignified and dangerous for our democracy.

We want to create the best possible framework conditions for competitive companies in Europe without simultaneous ecological and social exploitation in the value chains. Consumers in Europe want good products that do not exploit people or the environment. The report adopted today has the full support of many progressive companies, trade unions and civil society organisations.

Currently, around a third of all companies operating in the EU and globally carry out environmental and human rights due diligence assessments. We can improve that.

With today's vote, we are closer to the goal to adopt mandatory human rights and sustainability due diligence legislation in Europe.

The report adopted today represents a clear improvement on the Commission's proposal and is closely aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and existing OECD standards.

Today's vote represents a clear European progress in protecting people and the environment in our global trading system."

 

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