European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen's first term in office between 2019 and 2024 was a bona fide regulation spree. With her landmark European Green Deal, she legislated across dozens of sectors to set the European Union on track to emit "net zero" by 2050 and help avoid a worst-case scenario climate catastrophe.

But times have changed, and political priorities with them. The head of the EU's executive branch is on a deregulation drive to put European businesses on an even footing with their US and Chinese counterparts, while holding on to overall ambitious climate goals.

On Wednesday, EU officials unveiled plans to slash the bureaucratic burden on companies by rewriting several recent laws, in a move that went down poorly with environmental and rights campaigners, and even some industry voices.

The same day, the European Commission also laid out its goal of stimulating a €100 billion ($105 billion) investment drive in clean industrial technologies, also aimed at boosting EU competitiveness.

Concretely, the European Commission wants to tone down the rules that businesses must follow on sustainability impact reporting and supply chain responsibility, written into several pieces........

© Deutsche Welle