Decision to Provisionally Apply Mercosur Deal Does Not Respect Role of Parliament

IFA President Francie Gorman said the decision by the EU Commission to provisionally apply the Mercosur trade deal fails to respect the recent Parliament vote to refer the deal to the ECJ.

“It’s somewhat ironic that the Commission President is so keen to drive on in the same week that their latest audit in Brazil shows the controls are not in place. Despite what the EU Commission has frequently said, the Brazilian authorities have not managed to get their house in order.”

The IFA President said President Ursula von der Leyen references how this will be a good deal, but that would not be the view of farmers.

“We have opposed Mercosur for over two decades. The issue we had with the deal then, particularly around traceability and lack of standards, has not gone away.”

Francie Gorman said President von der Leyen may say this is provisional, but the fact remains that it still has to be ratified by the European Parliament.

“Their mandate in the process has to be respected. This announcement does not do that.”