On Wednesday 3 September, the European Commission is due to publish the legal texts of the EU/Mercosur trade agreement (see EUROPE 13540/1) and the modernised agreement with Mexico (see EUROPE 13560/1), and submit them to the EU Council for signature.
Regarding the agreement with Mercosur, several sources have indicated in recent months that the agreement would be divided into a political part and a commercial part, with a view to ratifying the latter at EU level only. The Council of the EU will have to approve the trade agreement by a qualified majority, then the European Parliament will have to give its green light, without national and regional parliaments being consulted.
The legal text of the EU/Mercosur agreement could have been submitted for ratification several months ago, but the European Commission worked to add a safeguard clause on certain agricultural products from Mercosur, in order to reassure France in particular, and other countries worried about their agricultural sector.
French demands have been met through sectoral safeguard measures on beef, chicken and sugar, according to several sources.
A group of MEPs is questioning the compatibility of the agreement with the Treaties. A number of MEPs from different political groups are preparing an initiative to take the European Commission to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) over the agreement. In particular, they question the rebalancing mechanism negotiated a few months ago with the Mercosur countries. Elected representatives are concerned that this could set a precedent for future agreements and undermine Europe’s ability to legislate on environmental issues in particular.
The cross-party initiative has already won the support of Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, French) and could rally other colleagues from various groups, particularly within the French delegation.
The elected representatives behind the initiative hope to submit a draft resolution at the first plenary session in Strasbourg in October, with a view to adoption by the European Parliament, which can then refer the matter to the CJEU. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)