Welcome to Better Europe’s weekly update on EU Affairs.
MEMBER STATES AGREE ON GREEN CLAIMS RULES AHEAD OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH PARLIAMENT
After the Parliament adopted its position in plenary last Mach, it is now up to the Council to take its position on the Green Claims Directive, which will require companies to submit evidence about their environmental marketing claims before so-called “sustainable” products. Member State ambassadors on 5 June approved the last version of the text ahead of a formal endorsement by environment ministers on 17 June. The revised version introduces new requirements for substantiating climate-related claims based on carbon offsetting and requires that traders prioritise emission reduction in their own operations and value chains rather than relying on the purchase of carbon credits. This approach is less ambitious than the one adopted in the Parliament, which aligns with the Directive on Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition (adopted earlier this year) and bans green claims based solely on carbon offsetting schemes. Negotiations with the newly elected Parliament will start in the autumn.
EU FINANCIAL SUPERVISORS RECOMMEND MEASURES AGAINST GREENWASHING
The three EU financial supervisory authorities published a long-awaited report to the Commission on the thorny issue of greenwashing where “sustainability-related statements, declarations, actions, or communications are misleading or false regarding the underlying sustainability profile of an entity, a financial product, or financial service”. In short: presenting an investment opportunity better than it really is. The supervisors recommend that national supervisors take measures to better monitor and detect greenwashing and suggest that the Commission gives the European and national supervisors increased powers to regulate benchmarks and to promote financial education and ensure that legislation provides access to the data that supervisors need. The report repeats again a call by the supervisors for stronger powers, but it remains to be seen whether the new European Commission is willing to open up financial legislation in the near future.
DUTCH, ESTONIANS, IRISH AND CZECH KICK OFF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
Dutch exit polls, as expected, do not show the massive shift to the right that was predicted but mostly a redistribution between the left and right blocks, with PvdA-GroenLinks (S&D/Greens) coming in first with 8 MEPs (21.6%) and Wilders’ PVV at 6 or 7 MEPs (17.7%). Political analysists see the national result in the Netherlands almost unanimously as linked to the recent right-wing election victory in November and the government announcement last month, which has pushed left-wing voters in the large cities to cast their votes, with a record turnout of 47% (the highest since 1989). Right-wing voters stayed home instead – about half of PVV voters at the national elections in November 2023 simply didn’t vote this time. And despite predictions, amongst young voters under 25, PvdA-GroenLinks (16%) and Volt did extremely well (15% according to an exit poll) whereas in the groups above 35 years, PVV scores highest. Estonia also started voting on Thursday as it allows voting on all four days, whereas Ireland votes this Friday and Czechia on Friday and Saturday.