EU: Commission must address issue with fast-tracked lawmaking & not undermine democratic safeguards and climate goals, say CSOs
"Commission admits transparency failures but refuses to fix flawed lawmaking exposed by Ombudswoman", 20 February 2026
The European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) warns that the European Commission’s partial climbdown, after the EU Ombudswoman found it broke democratic rules, fails to address the root causes behind fast-tracked and unlawful lawmaking.
In its official reply to the Ombudswoman’s maladministration findings, which follow several complaints brought by several NGOs... the Commission committed to improving how it records and explains decisions to fast-track legislation while pledging to better justify the evidence on which it bases its legislative proposals.
ECCJ considers these improvements are all the more needed at a time where the Commission increasingly relies on the Better Regulation Guidelines’ urgency procedure to water down essential environmental protections under the pretext of ‘simplification’.
However, ECCJ deeply regrets that the Commission refused to acknowledge that its current practice of bypassing impact assessments, limiting consultations, and inadequately assessing climate impacts is fundamentally flawed. These are safeguards to protect democratic rights, ensure high-quality lawmaking, and to keep the EU on track to meet its legally binding objective of climate neutrality by 2050.