Around 60 MEPs, mostly from the Greens/EFA group, sent a letter on 11 February to Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, whose country holds the Presidency of the EU Council for six months, calling for the renegotiation of the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries.
A few weeks ago, the Commission and the Council had indicated that they were in discussion with Mercosur on additional declarations on compliance with climate objectives and the fight against deforestation. “Additional commitments that are not enforceable and sanctionable and that do not have a clear legal link to the text of the agreement are not sufficient to address the shortcomings of the agreement”, the signatories said.
They call on the Council to suspend negotiations for the time being, rather than “rush a harmful agreement”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)