Welcome to Better Europe’s weekly update on EU Affairs.
EPP GETS AWAY WITH DEREGULATION DANCE
So, it’s official now: the EPP openly sides with the far right to ensure it can find the majority needed to dismantle EU sustainability rules. Just seven months ago, EPP leader Manfred Weber was still preaching the gospel of the cordon sanitaire, promising that the EPP would “never work with extremists”, unless they would magically align to his three pro’s: pro-Ukraine, pro-rule of law, and pro-Europe. Fast forward to today, and the only thing “pro” left is the pro-deregulation efficiency. The result is a CSRD shrunk to cover only the largest companies, the deletion of climate transition plans, and a CSDDD without civil liability. In short, a corporate sustainability framework that barely deserves the name. According to the S&D, the EPP is simply delivering a “Trumpist agenda without rules or accountability”. The Greens say joining forces with Orbán and Le Pen to move from simplification to deregulation destroys the EU and its values. Whatever it is, one thing is clear: we’re getting four more years of it, as no one seems to be willing to pull the plug on Von der Leyen II for this.
CAN PROCUREMENT STILL DELIVER A SOCIAL AND GREEN AMBITION?
One message stood out this week in a Parliament committee debate on how Europe spends 14% of its money through public procurement: the system is still far from aligned with Europe’s social and environmental ambitions. A decade after the 2014 directives came into force, the Commission admits that procedures remain complex, legal certainty is uncertain, and corruption risk persists. Politically, the divide is clear: the S&D and Greens want public procurement to finally support Europe’s social and climate goals, with mandatory green and social criteria so that public money no longer rewards companies that cut short the environmental and social value of their products. The liberals struck a more cautious note, asking whether “sustainability and innovation criteria can be embedded without increasing the administrative burden, especially for SMEs”. For our EPP friends, simplification is a priority over substance, which could be achieved by raising the higher thresholds and reducing existing constraints. As a full revision is planned for 2026, we wonder: will public procurement really be made greener and more social, or is it the next casualty of the deregulation wave?
DIGITAL EURO: BIG AMBITIONS, SLOW DECISIONS
The digital euro returned to the agenda at this week’s Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings, but the politics surrounding it are far from quiet. Lithuania’s finance minister tried to put some pressure on member states and “start the process of issuing a digital euro”, while others hide behind the project’s potential impact on consumer protection and financial stability. Outside the Council room, pressure is mounting too: while Italian banks reiterated their support, they also warned that the high implementation costs should be “spread over time”, highlighting the lack of consensus among private actors. Meanwhile, the ECB has moved on to the next stage, with a pilot expected in 2027 and a potential launch in 2029, provided that legislators approve it in 2026. It feels like the next steps will depend more on political will than technical design; perhaps the digital euro should be reframed as a strategic priority rather than an afterthought?