*

CEOs of TotalEnergies, Siemens wrote letter on behalf of

46

European companies

*

The EU law one of most politically contested parts of EU

green

agenda

*

EU already consulting on large-scale cuts to rules

(This October 9 story was updated on October 10 to add

TotalEnergies comments in paragraphs 6-7)

By Kate Abnett and Virginia Furness

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies and

Siemens have called on European governments to

abolish one of the EU's flagship corporate sustainability laws

in order to boost the continent's competitiveness, a letter seen

by Reuters shows.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne and his Siemens AG

counterpart Roland Busch wrote the letter to French President

Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on behalf

of 46 European companies.

Abolishing the rules would be a "clear and symbolic signal

to European and international companies that the governments and

the Commission are really engaged to restore competitiveness in

Europe," the letter dated October 6 said.

Siemens said improving Europe's ability to compete globally

required less "excessive regulation" across all sectors.

The proposal to scrap the sustainability rules was one

example where "meaningful steps can be taken to reduce

bureaucracy", it added.

A spokesperson for TotalEnergies said late on Thursday the

letter reflected the 46 companies' top five priorities to

improve Europe's competitiveness.

The letter also called for the European Union not to proceed

with plans to cut industries' free pollution permits next year,

and to reform its competition rules to allow more mergers by

considering them in the context of the global market, instead of

just Europe.

The EU's corporate sustainability due diligence directive

was adopted last year and requires companies to fix human rights

and environmental issues within their supply chains, or face

fines of 5% of global turnover.

It has become one of the most politically contested parts of

Europe's green agenda, and Brussels is now negotiating

changes to simplify the rules for European companies, after

pushback from Germany and France - as well as the United States

and Qatar, and companies including Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) .

Siemens and Total's calls to scrap the rules entirely go

further than plans already being negotiated by EU lawmakers and

countries to scale them back and exempt more companies from the

law.