Reassessing requirements improves policymaking, but early revisions may undermine trust in EU legislation. Read our views.
Accountancy Europe presents a new hub centralising resources on private equity and third-party ownership in the accountancy and audit sector
The European Parliament (EP) and the Council reached an agreement on 20 November on the European Commission’s (EC) 2022 proposal to harmonise certain corporate insolvency rules across the EU. The Directive aims at encouraging cross-border investment within the EU’s Single Market through targeted harmonisation of insolvency proceedings.
The new rules as agreed by the co-legislators will target the three key dimensions of insolvency law:
Several elements in the final agreement aim to improve the position of creditors in insolvency proceedings. For example, harmonised standards on transaction avoidance will ensure the integrity of the business assets in the vicinity of insolvency, rules on asset tracing will provide for effective tools for insolvency courts or insolvency practitioners to locate and recover assets belonging to the insolvency estate, and creditors’ committees will protect the interests of the general body of creditors in complex insolvency proceedings.
The Directive also includes innovative tools, in particular the so called ‘pre-pack proceedings’. These will complement national insolvency regimes with a modern and efficient mechanism that enables the sale of the business on a going concern basis in the context of liquidation proceedings. Selling a business on a going concern basis generates more proceeds for all creditors (compared to a scenario where the assets of the debtor have to be sold piece-by-piece), but it also contributes to preserving employment by keeping the business operational.
The Council and the EP must now formally adopt the political agreement, with the EP’s vote in Plenary currently expected for 9 March. The Directive will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal. Member States will then have 2 years and 9 months to transpose the Directive into national law. At the time of writing, no consolidated version of the final agreed text is available.
On 8 December, the EP and the Council achieved a deal on the Omnibus proposal amending sustainability reporting and due diligence rules. Below we share a summary of the key elements in the provisional agreement.
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD):
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD):
The EP Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee approved the provisional agreement on 11 December, and the EP plenary on 16 December. The Council must also formally approve the agreement.
MEPs adopted a non-binding report with recommendations on SMEs’ and scale-ups’ access to finance.
The report’s recommendations put an emphasis on legislative burden reduction, unlocking private capital and savings, bridging funding gaps for scale-ups and reinforcing Europe’s competitiveness. The recommendations do not oblige the EC to undertake any particular course of action.
The resolution, prepared by MEP Jorge Martin Frias (PfE/Spain), was adopted in a single vote, with 360 votes in favour, 298 against and 8 abstentions. The S&D, Renew and Greens Groups proposed an alternative text, but it was rejected by the Plenary.
The Danish Council Presidency published on 8 December a report with recommendations and observations on business data integration, interoperability and the role of technology.
The paper calls on the EC and Member States to commit to a well-coordinated collaboration with the private sector to adopt a paradigm shift from a paper-based Single Market toward a data-driven Single Market. According to the authors, using digital bookkeeping and e-invoicing could lead to up to EUR 87 billion in savings for Europe’s businesses.
The report makes the case of such savings in particular for SMEs, who would benefit the most from digitisation and automation of data, but also acknowledges challenges such as the need for at least initial additional investments as well as cybersecurity.
From January to June 2026, Cyprus will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU, with competitiveness and strategic autonomy at the core of its agenda. For SMEs, the programme contains several encouraging signals.
A central priority of the Presidency is regulatory simplification and burden reduction, explicitly aimed at helping SMEs and start-ups focus on growth, innovation and investment rather than compliance. Cyprus intends to advance the EU’s simplification agenda by pushing forward multiple omnibus packages designed to streamline existing legislation while avoiding deregulation. SMEs are repeatedly identified as key beneficiaries of these efforts.
The Presidency will also prioritise completing and strengthening the Single Market, tackling unjustified barriers and improving conditions for cross-border activity, an important step for SMEs seeking to scale up within the EU.
Access to finance is another focus, with Cyprus supporting progress on the Savings and Investment Union (SIU) and deeper capital markets to better channel private savings into productive investment, including smaller businesses.
Finally, high energy costs and digital dependencies will be addressed through initiatives on energy security, digital sovereignty and innovation, all essential for long-term SME competitiveness.
