As Argentina and Uruguay ratify the controversial EU-Mercosur trade deal, in an open letter, signed by over 170 civil society groups, farmers groups, environmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace EU, Climate Action Network Europe, Climate Action Network Latin America, ECVC and EFFAT urge the EU to respect democratic processes and refrain from applying the agreement before the European Parliament has exercised its right to vote on the deal.
Today, Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission will move immediately forward with provisional application of the trade deal, following the ratification of the EU-Mercosur by Uruguay and Argentina. The environmental and social impacts will thus begin to be felt by communities on the ground in Europe and Latin America this year.
Frances Verkamp, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said:
“It took the Commission 25 years of secret negotiations, no participation of civil society, no consultation of local communities and trade unions to come to a deal. Now it wants to sideline the European Parliament, the EU’s only elected institution, after having already cut out national parliaments? On a deal this controversial, democracy isn’t an option, it’s vital.”
Jean Blaylock, coordinator at the European Trade Justice Coalition added:
“Public trust in democratic processes and politicians is low right now and many in our society feel sidelined. Bulldozing this highly controversial deal into effect is likely to inflame tensions and undermine the legitimacy of the EU. Democracy is not an obstacle to be sidelined and EU-Mercosur should not be imposed through the back door.”
Background
The European Parliament has requested a legal opinion from the Court of Justice and can only vote once that is received.
The established practice, since the Lisbon Treaty, is that if a treaty needs to be ratified by the national parliaments of all member states, it has sometimes been applied provisionally while that process is happening, but only after the Council and European Parliament have given their consent. Thus far the only exception to this has been for Brexit.
