Omnibus I: The EU has delivered – now Germany must act

Employers’ President Dr Rainer Dulger on the adoption of the Omnibus I package by the EU Council:

Omnibus I: The EU has delivered – now Germany must act

Berlin, 24. February 2026. “With the adoption of the Omnibus I Directive by the EU Council, Brussels has delivered: the Mittelstand will face fewer burdens, and bureaucratic shackles will be loosened.

The package must mark the starting signal for an EU that finally becomes more competitive, faster and less bureaucratic. Too many EU rules burden businesses with detailed legal requirements. These should be decisively simplified.

The Federal Government has given its word: the Supply Chain Directive must be swiftly and business‑friendly transposed into German law, so that German companies are no longer disadvantaged compared with their European competitors.

To achieve this, the Supply Chain Act should be amended immediately: only companies with more than 5,000 employees should be covered in future. Anyone who agrees on reducing bureaucracy in Brussels but dilutes it in Berlin breaks their word – to companies, the Mittelstand, and employees.

Particularly regarding sustainability reporting, consistency is now essential: the facilitations achieved through Omnibus I must be directly reflected in the reporting standards. It must not be allowed that politically agreed simplifications are put on paper only to be undermined again by bureaucracy.”