The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group has prevented an attempt to rush through the Omnibus I simplification package without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

By challenging the Legal Affairs Committee’s mandate, the ECR ensured that the European Parliament will now debate and vote on the proposal in plenary rather than sending it directly to negotiations with the Council.

The proposal, which forms part of the Commission’s Green Deal simplification agenda, aims to amend the existing sustainability reporting and due diligence framework. However, ECR MEPs have warned that the draft text offered little genuine simplification and risked maintaining many of the administrative burdens that already weigh on European companies.

ECR MEP Tobiasz Bocheński, the Group’s Coordinator and Shadow Rapporteur in the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), said:

“We could not accept a process that sidelines the plenary and rubber-stamps further obligations for businesses. The proposal as it stands does not deliver real simplification — it merely repackages existing bureaucracy under a new label.”

“Today’s vote is a victory for transparency. The European Parliament must have the right to debate and amend laws that impose new obligations on our businesses. Skipping parliamentary scrutiny would have meant approving further bureaucracy by default.”

Mr Bocheński added:

“We believe that simplification must mean real relief for entrepreneurs, not just changes for the sake of it. If Europe wants to remain an industrial power, we need fewer reports and more competitiveness.”

He continued:

“Europe’s recovery will not come from new layers of Green Deal paperwork. It will come from freeing our enterprises to innovate and compete globally. Today’s result is a sign that reason can prevail over ideology.”

Mr Bochenski concluded:

“The ECR Group will continue to defend the principle that EU legislation must strengthen competitiveness and support Europe’s productive economy, rather than weigh it down with endless administrative demands.”