On Wednesday 19 November, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament refused to put to the vote a draft resolution calling for an opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the compatibility of the EU/Mercosur agreement with the European treaties (see EUROPE 13750/10).
The text, drawn up by 145 MEPs from several political groups, was due to be put to the vote at the plenary session at the end of November.
The European Parliament’s ‘tabling desk’ put an initial stop to the process on Tuesday 18 November. The MEPs’ draft resolution would not be admissible because Parliament has not yet been asked to give its consent to the trade agreement.
As a result, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups (CoP) rejected putting the resolution to the vote next week.
According to the elected representatives behind the draft resolution, the decision is politically motivated, and the reason given by Parliament’s administration has “no legal basis”. Together, they denounce “political interference within the administration of the European Parliament in order to facilitate the adoption of a trade agreement”.
This new development has the effect of delaying the vote on this resolution until early next year, when the EU Council will have officially referred the matter to the European Parliament for consent. If, at that point, MEPs vote in favour of requesting an opinion from the CJEU, the ratification process in the European Parliament will be frozen until the Court has given its opinion.
However, MEP Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA, Belgian) expressed concern that the Court of Justice “has already rejected a request for an opinion in the past, arguing that the request came too late after the EU Council’s approval”.
Green light from the EU Council for the safeguard measure. On the same day, the Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) gave their agreement in principle to the proposed regulation detailing the safeguard clause under the EU/Mercosur trade agreement. The text proposed by the European Commission at the beginning of October is acceptable to them and they have made no changes to it.
The Member States have therefore adopted the list of 23 ‘sensitive’ products, imports of which will be subject to enhanced surveillance and a more precise safeguard clause (see EUROPE 13726/26).
The European Parliament is due to vote on the text in mid-December. The EPP has asked for the accelerated procedure to be used in order to facilitate rapid adoption of the legislative text and to obtain a green light from the two institutions before the possible signing of the agreement on 20 December. The Committee on International Trade will therefore vote on the text at the beginning of December, which will then be brought to the plenary session in the week of the 15th. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)