A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #469 - Environment, Food, Climate - The Bright Future of the EU (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In dark times like the present, the European Union is shining a light on 
the future by drafting, at the end of 2025, and approving, in 2026, a 
set of rules  Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  the omnibus package 
Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  that simplify European regulations and 
reduce burdens on EU companies so as not to jeopardize their 
competitiveness, while maintaining sustainability commitments and 
ensuring consumer health. At least, that's what official statements say. 
Looking more closely, the package is divided into ten points: 
sustainability, investments in the EU, the common agricultural policy, 
mid-cap companies, defense readiness, chemicals, digital, the 
environment, the automotive sector, and food and feed safety. The 
proposal may be subject to change as it passes. If you read what has 
been written, you are faced with declarations of intent apparently 
inspired by noble principles but in substance the real direction is 
completely different. Here's what they write: "To reduce the reporting 
burden on companies,[...]the obligation to prepare and publish 
sustainability reports at individual level should be limited to 
companies with net sales and service revenues exceeding EUR 450 million 
and an average number of employees during the financial year exceeding 
1,000.[...]Companies, groups, and issuers below the specified thresholds 
remain free to conduct sustainability reporting on a voluntary 
basis.[...]The provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on the transition 
plan for climate change mitigation have been deemed disproportionate, in 
particular due to the administrative burden on companies and competent 
authorities, and risk leading to legal uncertainty. It is necessary to 
repeal these provisions in order to streamline the obligations and 
facilitate a more targeted and effective implementation of the Directive."

The goal is clear: to substantially reduce the number of companies 
subject to the regulation and undermine even the slightest possibility 
of reducing the environmental impact of production activities. Moving on 
to analyze the section on labeling, we read, "The 2024 report entitled 
'The Future of European Competitiveness' (Draghi Report) highlighted 
that the number and complexity of rules risk limiting the room for 
manoeuvre of EU businesses and preventing them from remaining 
competitive[...]it also highlighted the excessive administrative burdens 
and costs associated with the requirements introduced by Regulation (EU) 
2024/2865. Based on these findings, the Commission proposed simplifying 
certain requirements and procedures for chemical products.

This proposal aims, among other things, to strike a better balance 
between the need for consumers to clearly understand the information on 
the label, on the one hand, and the need to reduce market barriers and 
administrative burdens for industry, on the other[...]In light of this 
proposal, it is necessary to further defer the obligations introduced by 
Regulation (EU) 2024/2865 regarding label formatting, advertising, 
distance selling offers, and relabeling." Even more dangerous appear the 
proposals on chemicals based on the "One substance, one assessment" 
principle: "The complexity of evaluation procedures poses a specific 
problem for authorities and stakeholders, as it can lead to 
inconsistencies, slow procedures, inefficient use of resources, and 
unnecessary burdens. The Commission will work to simplify and make these 
evaluation processes more transparent, in order to reduce the burden on 
all stakeholders and make the decision-making process faster, as well as 
more consistent and predictable. This process will also facilitate a 
gradual shift from substance-by-substance evaluation and regulation of 
chemicals to group-by-group regulation." But the most interesting part 
is the following: "Considering that most of the approved active 
substances have been subject to at least one renewal process and that 
new active substances are expected to have improved toxicological and 
ecotoxicological properties, it is proposed to make the duration of 
approvals of active substances unlimited[...]. This approach will lead 
to a more efficient use of resources, as Member States and the European 
Food Safety Authority could allocate available resources to active 
substances for which a re-evaluation is justified and to the evaluation 
of applications for the approval of new active substances and 
applications for the authorisation of plant protection products 
containing such substances." Unlimited authorizations are introduced for 
chemical substances currently in use that are not identified as 
significantly hazardous, and the current requirement for periodic 
reviews is eliminated. This requirement is based on the assumption that 
improving available techniques and methods can reveal previously 
undetected harmful effects. Furthermore, the derogation periods for the 
use of substances no longer authorized because they are hazardous are 
extended, as are the exceptions to the ban on the use of hazardous 
pesticides, in the name of protecting agricultural production. The 
package also conceals a thousand other exemptions and concessions that 
have the sole purpose of promoting agricultural and industrial 
production without considering the harm they cause to humans, living 
beings, and the environment. The final highlight is the recommendation 
to increase investment in armaments and militaries. A truly bright 
future lies ahead!

Brunella Missoric

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/wp-content/uploads/maggio-2026_compressed.pdf
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