With Italy’s support now apparently assured, the trade agreement with Mercosur countries is set to be approved on Friday 9 January, by the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper).
However, the EU27 are expected to revisit the thresholds of the safeguard clause in order to strengthen it further, which is what Italy wants (see EUROPE 13781/1). The aim is to reduce the 8% threshold negotiated between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament on 17 December to 5%, as requested by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13775/9).
While this amendment should satisfy MEPs, some are unhappy that the agreement can enter into force without Parliament’s approval.
This is the case of Céline Imart (EPP, French), who took offence on the social network X at the fact that the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU had decided to continue with the usual procedure without finally resorting to a declaration suspending the entry into force of the trade agreement until the European Parliament had voted on the text.
For Ms Imart, the Cypriot authorities should “not give in to pressure and allow the Commission to sign the entry into force of the text without the vote of the MEPs”.
Over and above the procedure, several MEPs expressed their views on the eve of the vote, including Peter Liese, the EPP group’s spokesman on climate policy.
In his view, a failure of the EU/Mercosur agreement “would not only send a fatal signal in the current geopolitical context and be damaging to our economy, which is facing difficult challenges, but contrary to widespread opinion, it would also harm climate protection”.
On the left of the Chamber, the President of the S&D Group, Iratxe Garcia Pérez, said that the EU cannot hesitate to sign this agreement “at a moment when the world around us is becoming more fragmented and unpredictable”. She also welcomed the fact that Parliament had managed to put in place “solid guarantees” to protect the agricultural sector.
The ‘small’ Member States that resist will be not be enough to tip the balance. Rome’s support was crucial to achieving a qualified majority (at least 15 Member States in favour, representing 65% of the EU population) of Member States in the Council of the EU, while France, Poland and Hungary remain highly critical.
Even if other reluctant countries, such as Ireland and Austria, vote against the agreement, their vote will not allow it to fail.
Earlier on Thursday, the Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Harris, had publicly indicated that his country would vote against the agreement. “Although the EU has accepted a number of additional measures, they are not enough to satisfy our citizens”, he said in a statement.
Farmers’ anger continues. The vote by the twenty-seven ambassadors on Friday, which had been postponed at the end of December due to last-minute reservations on the part of Italy, is once again taking place against a backdrop of demonstrations by the farming community, which is not taking it lying down.
At the European Council meeting on 18 December, several thousand farmers blocked the streets of Brussels in opposition to the imminent signing of the free trade agreement (see EUROPE 13776/3).
Recent gestures by the European Commission in support of the sector, such as the early release of €45 billion in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds for 2028-2034, have not eased the pressure (see EUROPE 13781/4). Farmers are expected to mobilise again in European capitals, as they did on Thursday in Paris. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)