Brussels regrets sending the EU-Mercosur agreement to the CJEU

BRUSSELS – The European Commission today regretted the decision of MEPs to submit the EU-Mercosur agreement to the scrutiny of the European Court of Justice and denied that the issues raised are justified, promising to continue working on the matter.
“The Commission deeply regrets” the decision of the European Parliament to request an opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the legal basis of the partnership agreement between the EU and Mercosur and of the provisional trade agreement.
According to a note from the spokesperson of the Commission for Trade, Olof Gill, the decision of the MEPs – approved by 334 votes in favor, 324 against and 11 abstentions – “in the Commission’s firm view, the three issues raised in the EP’s motion regarding the agreement are not justified.” The Commission will now coordinate with the Council and with the MEPs before deciding on the next steps.
Analyzing the doubts raised in the EP resolution, Brussels assured that, as far as the legal architecture is concerned, the texts in question were negotiated and signed in accordance with the procedures laid down in the EU Treaties, with the Commission having worked “in close cooperation with the Council and the European Parliament, with full transparency, respecting the division of competences between the EU institutions.”
Regarding the non-violation complaint mechanism – such as the principle of non-regression and the reversal of benefits linked to environmental and labor standards – Gill stressed that this “cannot be used by Mercosur countries [Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay] to pressure the EU against the enactment or application of legislation and other measures aimed at its political objectives” and that it “excludes any possibility of the panel requesting one of the parties to change its measures.”
Brussels also argued that neither the partnership nor the provisional trade agreement will compromise the application of the precautionary principle nor will they reduce the audit and control measures on agricultural imports from Mercosur.
“This is confirmed both in the text of the agreement (in the chapters on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and on trade and sustainable development), and in the Commission’s declaration on the production standards applied to imported and controlled agri-food products,” it stated.
For the Commission, the position taken by the EP regarding the agreement that took 25 years to conclude, having been formally signed on 17 January, “comes at a time when EU producers and exporters urgently need access to new markets, and when the EU must fulfill its diversification agenda and demonstrate that it remains a reliable and predictable trading partner.”
Also today, the Minister of Agriculture and the Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, said in Lisbon that the EP resolution will “delay the agreement.”
The minister, who was speaking at a hearing in the Agriculture Committee, also stated that the “decision is legal and there is nothing that calls the agreement into question.”
Before that, José Manuel Fernandes had already said he understood that those who like being “proudly alone” can never be in favor of this agreement, in favor of an open economy.”
The minister stressed that the EU-Mercosur agreement protects farmers with safeguard, control and reciprocity clauses that do not currently exist in imports, nor in any other agreement.
Countries such as France and Poland are strongly opposed to the deal concluded between the European Commission and Mercosur, which is also contested by farmers across the EU. (21/01/26)