On Wednesday 14 January, the presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament (CoP) confirmed that a vote would be held on the referral of the Mercosur trade agreement to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on Wednesday 21 January to assess its compatibility with the EU Treaties.
Last November, 145 MEPs from five political groups tabled a resolution requesting this legal opinion from the CJEU, but the vote was postponed (see EUROPE 13755/21).
If this request for an opinion receives enough votes in favour in Parliament at the January plenary session in Strasbourg, the ratification process for the trade agreement will be frozen until the Court has given its opinion.
The MEPs who supported this resolution last November represented 21 different nationalities, and came from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups. The ECR, PfE and ESN groups were excluded from the discussions.
To see the resolution on the referral to the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/k8x
Safeguard clause. In addition, MEPs must validate the agreement reached in trilogue with the EU Council on the regulation detailing the safeguard clause under the EU/Mercosur agreement. The vote on this point should take place at the February plenary session, following approval by the Committee on International Trade (INTA) at the end of January.
However, on Friday 9 January, the EU Member States subsequently amended the thresholds for triggering an investigation, in line with the European Parliament’s initial position. The amendment should therefore not pose a problem for MEPs (see EUROPE 13783/1).
Consent vote. The timetable for the European Parliament’s consent vote on the trade agreement is likely to follow “a classic line”, as several sources report, with a joint vote in the parliamentary INTA Committee and the Agriculture Committee (AGRI) in the coming months. This timetable would lead to a final vote in plenary by June.
This scenario would apply if the matter were not referred to the CJEU. In that event however, the parliamentary ratification process could be delayed by several months.
Unsurprisingly, “the final vote on the trade agreement is likely to be closer than that on the request for an opinion from the Court of Justice”, reports a parliamentary source.
For Majdouline Sbaï (Greens/EFA, French), co-initiator of the informal group on Mercosur in the Parliament, the referral to the Court represents “the duty of each representative to verify the legality of what they undertake” and “our collective duty not to let the agricultural world down”.
Provisional application. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will travel to Paraguay on Saturday 17 January to sign the free trade agreement.
The commercial side of the treaty with the Mercosur countries could be applied provisionally, after the official signature, without waiting for Parliament’s consent, as the European Commission has pointed out in recent days - which has not failed to arouse the indignation of MEPs opposed to the agreement (see EUROPE 13783/1).
Nevertheless, Olof Gill, the Commission’s Deputy Chief Spokesman, was keen to make it clear: “No decision has been taken on the provisional application of the Mercosur agreement. Over the coming weeks, the Commission will be engaging in dialogue with MEPs to secure their support before the final vote on the agreement”.
However, provisional application would allow the EU to have the provisions of the agreement applied to one of the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), if that country were to ratify the agreement before the others. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)