Statement by Palazzo Chigi on EU packaging and packaging waste regulation and corporate sustainability due diligence directive

The twenty-seven Member States of the European Union have today approved the regulation on packaging and packaging waste and the directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. This decision was made at Ambassador level by the Committee of Deputy Permanent Representatives to the European Union (Coreper I). This is the final step in the process to adopt the two measures, following negotiations with the European Parliament, and will be formalised by the latter and by Ministers from the 27 Member States.

Today’s decision follows a complex negotiation process in which Italy played a key role, providing a major contribution to finding the right balance between environmental targets and business competitiveness, and between standardisation and leveraging successful experiences at national level.
After the decisive step taken today, with the 27 Member States coming to an agreement, the approved texts will now be sent to the European Parliament and then to the Council for final adoption.

The regulation on packaging and packaging waste will increase the sector’s sustainability by encouraging greater recyclability of packaging, and will also contribute to reducing certain barriers to the functioning of the internal market by introducing common rules on labelling and waste management. This measure also obliges Member States to reduce waste, giving individual States and industry operators the flexibility, as Italy had called for, to choose how to reach that objective, and in particular the choice between reusable packaging and recyclable single-use packaging, should the latter still represent the best option in environmental terms and with regard to storing agricultural and food products, as is the case in the catering industry. The amendments approved incentivise technologies we are investing in, such as chemical recycling. They also safeguard sectors in which our companies have increased packaging recyclability and where we are at the cutting edge, such as compostable plastics, or in which we export top-quality products such as wine, sparkling wine, vermouth and spirits. With regard to waste management, there is freedom of choice between adopting the deposit-refund system and keeping best-practice models of separate waste collection, such as the one in Italy.

The directive on corporate sustainability due diligence will help ensure that the supply chains of major European companies are as respectful as possible of human rights and environmental sustainability. Italy played a key role in achieving a well-balanced and effective text that shifts the burden to large-scale companies (with more than 1,000 employees and 450 million euros in overall turnover), which are better able to monitor their supply chains and contribute to both mitigating the effects of economic activities on climate change and protecting the human rights of those affected by company activity.

The results achieved are thanks to the collective effort of all players in Italy’s economic system.

“We have shown that there is now an Italy in Brussels that does not give in to solutions that penalise our industry, and that is able to keep firmly negotiating until the very end, asserting the validity of its arguments, leveraging its strengths and managing to substantially change the end result”, stated the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni. “The credit for these successes must go to the impetus provided by the Ministries involved, working in close coordination with Palazzo Chigi, to the negotiations carried out by our diplomatic representatives in Brussels and also to the crucial teamwork of our MEPs, who were able to transcend political lines. In this regard, special thanks go to MEPs Pietro Fiocchi, Massimiliano Salini and Patrizia Toia whose work played a decisive role during the trilogue in building consensus to support national positions on the packaging issue. We have shown that a united and determined Italy really can shift the balance in Brussels and play a leading role”, concluded President Meloni.