EU Updates - September
National Transposition of the CSRD: State of Play
On 5 January 2023, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) entered into force for European countries. The directive requires all large companies and listed SMEs to disclose information on risks and opportunities regarding social and environmental issues as well as the impact of their activities on people and the environment. Companies subject to the CSRD will need to report according to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), developed by EFRAG.
The objective of the directive is to help investors, consumers, civil society organisations, and all other stakeholders evaluate the sustainability performance of companies all around Europe, in a more accountable and harmonised way.
As a European directive, the CSRD is required to be transposed into national legislation by Member States, that have some room for maneuver on specific matters, such as the definition of auditors, sanctions, and scope (but only with the possibility of lowering the threshold, thus increasing the number of companies falling into scope).
The due date for the transposition of the CSRD was identified on the 6 of July 2024. However, as of today, end of August, less than half of the European countries have completed the internal legislative process for the implementation. Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden are the only 12 States that have transposed the directive, while most other member States have proposed a draft but haven’t approved it yet. No update has been communicated to the public for four States (Austria, Belgium, Malta and Portugal).
For more information:
Contact Morris Massarutto
Updates and Future Developments in the European Institutions
As the summer break comes to an end and we all head back to our offices, let’s take a moment to wrap up the most significant news regarding the EU institutions of these past few months.
As we all know, the European elections concluded with the win of the European People's Party (26%), a substantial vote share for the far right, and, in general, a significant political realignment. Specifically:
118 seats were appointed to EPP
136 seats to Socialists & Democrats
84 seats to the newly formed group of Patriots for Europe
78 seats to the European Conservatives and Reformists
77 seats to Renew Europe, just 53 to the Greens
46 to the Left
Even though these elections brought a notable shift to the conservative right and an alteration of the political balance in the European Parliament, the usual moderate coalition was kept, excluding the extremist parties from the major decisions and leadership positions with the so-called cordon sanitaire.
As regards the parliamentary nominations, on July 16, Roberta Metsola (EPP) was confirmed as the EU Parliament President; the new Bureau was chosen, with 14 Vice-Presidents and five Quaestors, and the new Parliamentary Committees and Sub-Committees (20+4) were formed.
During the same week, Ursula von der Leyen was elected for a second term as the President of the European Commission, with 401 votes in favour and 284 against. On June 27, then, the European Council appointed António Costa as its new President and nominated Kaja Kallas as the official candidate for the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Still, much remains to be unveiled: below is a brief summary of the EU institutions’ next steps and the timeline of key events until the end of the year.
August:
Nominations of the EU Commissioners by Member States’ governments (usually from the ruling political party). Von der Leyen asked MS to nominate two candidates, one male and one female, to ensure gender balance, but this suggestion is being ignored by most States.
September:
Appointment of Commissioners (after an interview with the EC President and the assignation of responsibilities and portfolios);
Definition of the EU Commission’s priorities (already presented in the Political Guidelines);
Formation of Intergroups (non-official groupings of MEPs who are interested in a particular topic that does not fall within the scope of the EP’s normal work but may be of interest to wider society).
October:
Confirmation of the Commissioners-designate (who will be then evaluated by the EP committee responsible for their portfolio).
November:
1 Nov: Official beginning of the new European Commission’s term;
Between November and January: Adoption of the EU Commission 2025 Work Programme (which sets out the list of key actions the Commission will undertake in the coming year, in consultation with the EP and the MS)
December:
1 Dec: Taking office of the new European Council President;
16-19 Dec: Presentation of the College of Commissioners and the Work Programme to the EU Parliament, and Parliamentary vote on European Commission investiture
For more information:
Contact Morris Massarutto
Share your View on Diversity and Inclusion Policies
Can you support a new research project by sharing your experiences on diversity and inclusion policies and practices in your workplace? Fill in an online survey and share your views!
The online survey is part of a study examining the impact of European Commission diversity and inclusion policies.
This survey is aimed at a wide range of stakeholders, including:
Workplaces: public and private organisations, businesses, NGOs, trade unions, and others;
Diversity Charters;
Signatories and non-signatories of Diversity Charters.
The survey can be accessed here.
The deadline for completion of the survey is 13th September 2024.
The survey is available in all EU languages. When responding from a laptop, you can select languages from the drop-down list on the right-hand side. On a mobile device, click the three bars on the top-right hand-side of the display and then select your language from the drop-down list.
It will take approximately 20-25 minutes to complete the survey in full, however, only up to a maximum of 9 questions are mandatory, and so a faster response is possible. We expect you to be able to complete this survey questionnaire without having to use significant additional information gathering.
By completing the online survey questionnaire, you will be contributing to:
Better understanding of the business case and benefits of diversity and inclusion policies and practices;
Investigating the Impact of the EU Platform of Diversity Charters and the benefits, challenges and impacts of signing a Diversity Charter; and,
You can nominate your organisation’s good practice examples.
A letter of support from the European Commission is available in the survey questionnaire and on the project description webpage
For more information:
Contact diversity@rpaltd.co.uk
