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Corporate environmental vigilance: right and far-right join forces to slash the law

by AI | 13.Nov 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Right and far-right voices have joined together in the European Parliament to unravel a law on the social and environmental responsibility of large companies, a thunderclap in Brussels.

European deputies attend a session in the hemicycle in Brussels on November 12, 2025. (Photo: Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

Brussels – MEPs approved on Thursday by 382 votes to 249 the lowering of ambitions of the “duty of vigilance” law, limiting the number of companies concerned and removing some of their obligations.

Contrary to the traditional so-called “pro-European” majority, the ad hoc alliance of the right (the EPP) with the far right has caused an outcry among the other groups.

The EPP “has torpedoed any moderate compromise,” exclaimed social democrat René Repasi.

This vote sounds like a warning for the pro-European camp, as the Parliament begins to address a series of texts on the “simplification” of business life. The far right savored a “great victory” on Thursday.

Under penalty of sanctions, the law adopted in 2024 required companies with more than 1,000 employees to prevent and remedy human rights violations (child labor, forced labor, safety…) and environmental damage throughout their value chains, including with their suppliers worldwide. (November 13, 2025)