Tuesday, February 15, 2022 — Statement from the PETCORE-Europe’s President – Antonello Ciotti

Dear Members of PETCORE-Europe, Associates and Business Colleagues,

I am taking the baton from Stephen Short with a lot of enthusiasm for the work done so far, and at the same time with a clear awareness on the increasing challenges ahead of us.

Almost a year after a large majority of the European Parliament backed ambitious and binding rules for companies to identify and mitigate their human rights  and environmental impact, the European Commission is finally publishing the draft EU law on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, otherwise known as ‘due diligence.’

Today, the European Parliament will take yet another huge step towards protecting workers from exposure to dangerous substances at workplaces around Europe, in the fourth revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD). During the inter-institutional negotiations, the Socialists and Democrats successfully managed to include 12 reprotoxic substances. Reprotoxic substances can impair the ability to have children or cause irreversible harm to foetal development.

Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament today urged again the European Commission to act on Hungary and Poland’s breaches on EU values, following the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirming that such a mechanism is in accordance with the EU Treaties.