Newsletters

The European Parliament held a vote on 21 January on the next procedural steps concerning the EU-Mercosur agreement, deciding to request a legal opinion from the European Court of Justice on the conformity of the agreement with the EU Treaties. The resolution was adopted by a narrow margin, reflecting the highly divided views within Parliament on the agreement.

As a result of this decision, the legal basis of both the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement and the interim trade agreement will be reviewed by the Court. While this assessment is ongoing, the European Parliament will continue its examination of the texts but will not be able to proceed to a final consent vote until the Court has delivered its opinion.

The vote is widely seen as an indication of the political balance in Parliament ahead of the eventual consent decision. Positions remain split across and within political groups, with no clear majority emerging at this stage. This contrasts with developments in the Council, where the agreement has already secured qualified majority support despite opposition from several Member States.

CLECAT regrets decision of the European Parliament as the EU–Mercosur agreement strengthens long-term partnerships, supports diversified and resilient supply chains, and reinforces Europe’s role as a trading partner. We hope that Court will proceed quickly with the legal opinion to allow the European Parliament to proceed with the adoption of the agreement, ensuring timely implementation and legal certainty for European industry and trade.

For those interested in learning more about the MERCOSUR agreement, we recommend this EU MERCOSUR Q&A recently published by the European Commission.