globalization
FDP wants to stop German supply chain law
The supply chain law is intended to protect the environment and workers abroad. But the economy complains about bureaucracy. The FDP also rejects the previous regulations and is now pushing the pace.
In order to ease the burden on the economy, the FDP would like to stop the German supply chain law before a new election. The Liberals want to introduce a bill into the Bundestag next week that would immediately repeal the controversial regulations. “The economic turnaround that our country urgently needs could already take a step forward,” said the Parliamentary Managing Director of the FDP parliamentary group, Johannes Vogel, to the German Press Agency. The German supply chain law does not create a better world, but only bureaucracy to the detriment of companies.
The law is intended to ensure that certain labor and environmental standards are adhered to for products manufactured abroad for the German market. However, the companies affected complain about competitive disadvantages and high levels of bureaucratic effort. The German supply chain law was drafted by the grand coalition. In addition, a European supply chain law was passed a few months ago, which must be implemented by the EU states within two years.
Against this background, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) have already called for the German regulations to be suspended or at least weakened. Their parliamentary groups in the Bundestag signaled resistance, but in Vogel’s opinion broad support for the FDP draft should be a given. Ultimately, the law in its current form is “an accelerant in tying up companies in this country.”
dpa
Source: Stern
