EU: Omnibus I Requirements Proposal – Parliamentary vote outcome

The Requirements proposal (which makes substantive amendments to the CSRD and CSDDD) today experienced a significant procedural setback in the European Parliament as its members voted to reject (318 votes against, 309 votes in favour, and 34 abstentions) the JURI Committee’s mandate to proceed directly to trilogue negotiations with the EU Council (see EP press release). 

This was not a vote on the JURI report itself – with the JURI Committee having only agreed its own position on the Requirements Proposal  last week – but rather on the procedural question of whether the JURI’s decision of 13 October to bypass a full (EU Parliament) plenary vote could stand. As the voting was secret, it is unclear what caused the failure of the vote to pass. According to European Parliament president Roberta Metsola: “Today’s vote showed that for a huge section of parliament, this compromise simply did not go far enough, and for some sections, it went too far from the status quo."

The rejection means that the JURI Committee proposal will now need to be voted on by the EU Parliament, which will give the opportunity for further amendments to be proposed and the position to be changed (although a deadline for any such amendments has not yet been set). Ultimately there will need to be agreement within the EU Parliament on its negotiating position and to proceed to the trilogues. 

The next EU Parliament plenary session is scheduled for 13 November, meaning that the previously scheduled first trilogue on 24 October must now be postponed. 

We understand that there is still an aim to finalise the Requirements Proposal by the end of 2025 despite the delay. However, this now looks even more challenging than previously. 

For more information on the JURI report and the Omnibus I proposal, see our previous blog post and EU Omnibus Tracker.