Copublished with ActionAid France, Les Amis de la Terre France, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, la Fédération Internationale pour les Droits Humains, Max Havelaar France, Notre Affaire à Tous, Oxfam France & Sherpa
Paris, 20 May 2025 – French NGOs gathered in the Citizen’s Forum for Economic Justice and their allies strongly condemn French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that the European directive on corporate sustainability due diligence (CSDDD) is to be definitively ‘set aside’.
Surrounded by investors and industrial lobbies gathered at the Château de Versailles for the Choose France summit, Emmanuel Macron yesterday expressed his intention to remove ‘numerous constraints and regulations’ weighing on businesses, specifically targeting the CSDDD, which is already under review.
By declaring that he wants to ‘synchronise’ the regulatory actions of the EU and the United States, Emmanuel Macron is attacking a text that is crucial to making multinationals more accountable, and which his party had supported. This u-turn marks a worrying alignment of France with the brutal policies of US President Donald Trump, and also echoes the position of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
While the French President’s stance seems out of step with some recent statements by the French government and many economic and political voices on the subject, it is in line with the wishes of French far right leader Jordan Bardella, whose party has been campaigning for months to repeal the due diligence and the European Green Deal.
NGOs stress these statements further demonstrate the French Presidency’s alignment with the contemptuous deniers of human rights and the planet, and its connivance with lobbies eager for deregulation.
At a time when the climate crisis and inequalities are worsening, this position runs counter to urgent social and ecological needs. In the face of this regression, the Citizen’s Forum for Economic Justice is calling for mobilisation. The Forum urges President Emmanuel Macron to honour his commitments and preserve this fundamental text to hold multinationals accountable and protect victims.
The Forum also calls on the French President to immediately engage in constructive dialogue with civil society, whose requests have so far been unanswered, in order to strengthen, not weaken, the protection of human rights, the environment and the climate around the world.
