The Corporate Responsibility Directive would be a historic step forward.
Finland is ready to overturn the negotiation result reached on the EU corporate responsibility directive at the meeting of the member states on Friday, February 9. According to the government's position submitted to the parliament, Finland, as part of a larger group, can abstain from voting, which in practice means opposing the motion. Finland alone cannot overturn the directive, but together with a few other countries, Finland's role can be decisive.
Before Petteri Orpon (kok) government Finland has been active in promoting regulation on corporate responsibility. In 2019, Finland itself proposed that the EU should start preparing corporate responsibility legislation based on the due diligence process. After a long preparation, the Commission's proposal was received in 2022. Paradoxically, the publication of the proposal led to the fact that Sanna Marini (sd) the government suspended the preparation of the national corporate responsibility act at the request of the center and Rkp. They considered that the focus should be on promoting the issue at the EU level. Now that the EU directive is ready, they also want to overturn it.
If passed, the corporate responsibility directive would be a historic step forward. It would enact the corporate responsibility principles unanimously approved at the UN in 2011 by obliging large companies to find out the harmful environmental and human rights effects of their operations and to intervene in them. Through the international chains of operations of companies, the effects of the directive would also extend outside the EU, and the responsibility of companies would increase wherever they produce goods or raw materials for the needs of Europeans.
It would also be a key legislative project in terms of climate change. With the directive, companies would have to draw up and implement plans on how to change their business to be compatible with the goals agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement. Since many European companies operate globally, the requirement would mean significant emission reductions all over the world.
It is shameful that Finland is ready to overthrow this historical achievement.
Sonja Finér
executive director
Finnwatch
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