The EU Supply Chain Act did not achieve a sufficient majority in the Standing Committee of the EU Member States today. It is therefore unlikely to be passed in this legislative period.

Armin Paasch, human rights expert at Misereor, comments as follows:

"The rejection of the current proposal on the EU supply chain law in the Council is a moral declaration of bankruptcy. The Council continues to accept exploitation and environmental destruction for the profit and growth of European corporations and denies those affected the chance of compensation. European values are apparently only valid if they cost us nothing. By announcing its abstention, the German government has gone from being a pioneer to a brake pad and has triggered centrifugal forces in other Member States that have led to failure in the Council today.

The main responsibility lies with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who refused to approve the law in accordance with the coalition agreement and by virtue of his authority to issue directives. In doing so, he is ignoring the appeals of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, hundreds of non-governmental organisations, trade unions, the Greens and the SPD and is instead bowing to the FDP and some business associations. According to an INSA survey published yesterday, 68 per cent of the German population are in favour of the EU supply chain law, while only 18 per cent are against it.(https://lieferkettengesetz.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/INSA-Umfrage-Lieferkettengesetz-Deutschland-Februar-2024.pdf )

The preliminary success of the FDP blockade is a Pyrrhic victory on the backs of the poorest and nature. Its clientele policy contradicts the will of its own supporters, 67 per cent of whom are in favour of the EU Supply Chain Act according to the INSA survey. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann surprisingly vetoed the trilogue agreement and actively campaigned to other member states to reject it."

Now that the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States has not approved the current text, the trilogue negotiations between the Commission, Council and Parliament must be resumed. Due to the delay, adoption before the European Parliament elections has therefore become unlikely.