Lead MEP on 'simplification' omnibus hit with conflict of interest complaint

Ten civil society organisations filed a complaint on Monday (15 December) against Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn, alleging a conflict of interest between his role pushing the omnibus 'simplification' agenda and his outside job as president of SME Europe.

Warborn is the MEP responsible for the so-called Omnibus I file on changes to sustainability and due-diligence laws, and the ten NGOs claim it is a breach of the European Parliament’s code of conduct due to his role with SME Europe.

The complaint comes ahead of a key vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

The first omnibus includes a package of laws aimed at “simplifying” EU legislation, focusing on sustainability reporting (CSRD), due diligence (CSDDD), and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

The organisations, led by Transparency International and the Good Lobby, are demanding the parliament investigate the Swedish MEP because of possible bias, given his role as president of SME Europe, a lobby group working for the interests of small businesses.

“When the person dismantling environmental and social protections simultaneously runs the lobby organisation demanding those protections be dismantled, democracy becomes a charade,” said professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby and EUobserver columnist.

According to a press release, Warborn appeared at an event by SME Europe as president on 29 April, after he was appointed as rapporteur, the MEP responsible for the file, on 20 March 2025. He declared no conflict of interest back then.

The organisations say this breaks the code of conduct, which stops MEPs from doing their job in ways that could be "improperly influenced" by private economic interests.

As president of SME Europe, a registered lobby group, Warborn is supposed to push the organisation's agenda — an agenda that lines up directly with the legislation he's writing as rapporteur.

On their website, SME Europe describes itself as the "small and medium entrepreneurs of the European People's Party," a lobby organisation whose top priority is to "shape and refine EU legislation that supports SMEs."

The group works to connect business leaders directly with EU lawmakers through hearings, events, and working groups focused on issues like digitalisation, access to finance, and reducing bureaucracy.

The advisory committee in the conduct of members is the body within the parliament responsible for the safekeeping of the code of conduct.

It consists of eight MEPs, all appointed by the president of the parliament, at the moment the Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola.

There is no set timeline for the advisory committee in which it has to investigate a complaint.

"SME Europe is directly affiliated with the European political party to which I belong, the EPP. SME Europe does not have companies or commercial actors as members. I hold this position in my capacity as a member of the European Parliament," stated Warborn in an email to EUobserver.

Warborn added he had been "fully transparent" about his meetings and those of his staff members.

"I view this as a politically motivated submission from interest organisations that are dissatisfied with what the European Parliament and the member states have agreed on regarding the Omnibus proposal," he also said.

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