European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis invited some of the EU’s biggest businesses and industry groups to key policy talks, Euractiv reported.
European and multinational businesses are set to meet on 6 February to outline which provisions they would like to see revised in the bloc’s “omnibus” proposal. The proposal is expected to be made public on 26 February.
For the first time on the agenda of institutional “simplification” there is a mechanism for adjusting the carbon boundaries of the bloc. The item on the revision of the CO2 reduction rules confirms the new Commission’s sensitivity to business demands.
However, the preliminary guest list does not include some of the most influential actors in the sector, such as multinational giants Nestlé, Mars, Ferrero and Unilever.
The companies recently called on the Commission to ensure that any omnibus proposal would be limited to streamlining duplication rather than reviewing the rules.
Meanwhile, civil society and labour representatives, including the European Trade Union and NGOs such as ShareAction, Human Rights Watch and WWF, will also take part in the negotiations. A total of 58 invited representatives of the business sector are on the list, compared to just 10 NGOs.
