Parliament rejects Sustainability Omnibus mandate, exposing cracks in centrist coalition

STRASBOURG — The European Parliament on Tuesday rejected the Legal Affairs Committee’s (JURI) mandate to begin interinstitutional negotiations on the Sustainability Omnibus, also known as Omnibus I, in a surprise procedural upset that has sent shockwaves through the so-called von der Leyen majority.

With 309 votes in favour, 318 against, and 34 abstentions, the plenary decided to reopen the file rather than allow JURI to proceed directly to trilogues. The vote, held by secret ballot, was not on the substance of the text, but on whether the committee could negotiate without a prior plenary vote.

As a result, the file will return to the Brussels plenary on 12–13 November, where MEPs will be able to table amendments before adopting Parliament’s formal position.

A procedural vote with political weight

Although Tuesday’s vote was formally procedural, its implications are deeply political. It exposed widening fissures within the platform majority — the informal centrist coalition of EPP, S&D and Renew that has anchored Ursula von der Leyen’s second Commission.

The rapporteur had presented two compromise options. One with the centrist groups, another with the right-wing ECR, Patriots and ESN. The S&D reluctantly backed the centrist text to avoid a deal with the far right. 

Its defeat in plenary now opens the door to a possible rightward realignment on sustainability and deregulation.

Fractures within the von der Leyen majority

For the EPP, the outcome is a mixed one. While the group opposed reopening the file, the rapporteur failed to maintain discipline within his own ranks, with several Italian and Polish members reportedly breaking ranks. By courting both the right flank and centrist allies, the EPP appears to have overplayed its hand.

The S&D Group fared no better. Despite clear instructions to support the mandate, more than a quarter of its members are believed to have voted against it, according to several sources. Dissent came largely from French, Dutch, Austrian, Polish and Scandinavian delegations, who viewed the JURI compromise as excessively deregulatory.

Notably, three of the group’s vice-presidents — Mohammed Chahim (NL), Gabriele Bischoff (DE) and Christophe Clergeau (FR) — co-signed the motion to refer the file back to plenary. 

The rebellion underscores growing discontent with group leader Iratxe García (ES), accused by critics of aligning too closely with Madrid and conceding too much ground to the EPP.

The Renew Europe group largely upheld its support for the compromise, with only three abstentions. Yet the vote revealed the limits of its balancing act. Caught between an EPP pulled rightward and an S&D wary of deregulation, Renew’s influence is no longer enough to stabilise the majority.

A shift in Europe’s political balance

The vote followed a joint letter from 19 EU leaders, including those of France, Germany and Italy, calling for a new regulatory course guided by the principles of “review, reduce, restrain.” The letter urged the Commission to simplify EU rules, explicitly naming the CSRD and CSDDD, signalling a de facto EPP-Renew-ECR convergence on regulatory easing.

The absence of signatures from Spain and Denmark, the EU’s only social-democratic prime ministers, underscored the S&D’s growing isolation within both the Council and Parliament.

Taken together, these developments point to a broader rightward drift in European politics. The rejection of the JURI mandate is less a procedural blip than a marker of shifting power dynamics in the post-2024 legislature.

Fragile foundations for the second von der Leyen Commission

President von der Leyen’s reappointment last year rested on a centrist coalition that no longer holds firm when confronted with politically charged files. 

The Omnibus I vote lays bare the fragility of that parliamentary equilibrium, as national delegations increasingly vote along domestic lines.

The European Parliament, long seen as the Union’s most integrationist institution, is beginning to mirror the fragmentation of the Council, shaped by divergent national interests and election cycles. The result is a legislature of unstable, shifting majorities, where procedural votes can become political flashpoints.

While a collapse of the Commission remains unlikely, the episode has pushed the idea from the unthinkable into the conceivable. A reminder that the institutional stability underpinning von der Leyen’s mandate can no longer be taken for granted.

What happens next

Under normal circumstances, EPP, S&D and Renew negotiators would reconvene to restore a compromise ahead of the vote — as seen with the 2022 ETS reform. But the political context has shifted. 

With a viable alternative majority to its right, the EPP faces mounting pressure to abandon the centrist bloc altogether.

How the next round of talks unfolds will determine whether Europe’s platform majority can survive, or whether the Sustainability Omnibus becomes the file that redefines the balance of power in the new Parliament.