BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen never pushed to withdraw an anti-greenwashing bill and still supports it, according to a Commission official familiar with von der Leyen’s stance.

“The president’s support for the Green Claims has not changed,” the official told POLITICO on Tuesday. 

The assertion comes just days after a Commission spokesperson on Friday said the opposite — that the EU’s executive body intended to pull the proposed Green Claims Directive, which aims to police false sustainability claims by companies. 

That was wrong, said the Commission official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about a politically sensitive topic.

“At no point has there been a backtrack on commitment to the Green Claims,” the official said. 

Friday’s move ignited a political firestorm in Brussels, with centrists and left-leaning politicians raging that von der Leyen’s team had trashed the legislative process and attacked yet another green policy. 

The Commission official disputed the allegation. The EU executive, the official said, would only kill the file if a resolution was not found over a specific issue: whether the law should cover businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Brussels had proposed exempting them, but EU capitals were seeking to include them.

“The Commission made the point that that would go beyond the scope of the original proposal and change the nature of it,” the official said.

Still, Friday’s announcement — made just days before the final round of talks to finalize a deal were due to take place — left EU diplomats and European Parliament members confused about whether the deal was off or not. They said the lingering dispute about small companies was slated for discussion in that last round of talks. 

Numerous centrist and center-left lawmakers also accused von der Leyen of bowing to her center-right European People’s Party, which declared its opposition to the rule last week. 

The statement prompted the Polish Council presidency, which runs the negotiations on behalf of EU countries, to pause talks over the uncertainty, saying it would “wait for clarity from the European Commission on its intentions.” 

The process eroded further on Monday, when Italy officially pulled its support for the law, killing the majority supporting the deal and bringing negotiations to a complete halt. 

Despite the Commission’s seemingly having prompted the collapse of the talks, the Commission official said it was up to EU countries to find a way forward. 

“It’s up to the Council to state what its intentions are, and then we see from there. But that’s because of the Italians withdrawing; the Commission has not withdrawn,” the Commission official said. 

The Polish presidency told POLITICO that EU ambassadors will discuss the topic on Wednesday.

“Since a lot has happened in recent days, it’s important to take time to hear from [EU countries] and carefully reflect on the way forward together,” a spokesperson said.