The EU supply chain law was also rejected in a second attempt by the EU ambassadors of the member states. This was announced by the Belgian EU Council Presidency. For adoption, a majority of at least 15 member states with an EU population of at least 65 percent would have been necessary. The vote had been postponed several times.
“We must now examine the state of affairs and see whether it is possible to address the concerns raised by the Member States in consultation with the European Parliament,” writes the Council Presidency. It is therefore unclear whether the project will have to be renegotiated again, although there was actually already a compromise between negotiators from the two institutions in December.
The law should ensure that European companies ensure compliance with human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains abroad. While the SPD and the Greens spoke out in favor of the EU supply chain law, the federal government announced that it would abstain from the vote after the FDP blocked it. She did this on Wednesday during the vote in the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States. Since a certain number of yes votes would have been needed for adoption, an abstention has the same effect as a no vote.
The EU states should have passed the law at the beginning of February, after completion of the formal trilogue procedure between the Council, Parliament and Commission. But then the federal government was unable to find a common position because of the FDP’s rejection; Italy, a member state with a high voting weight, and other EU countries also announced their abstention. In order not to risk defeat, the Belgian Council Presidency postponed the vote.