EU Parliament puts the brakes on Mercosur deal
The European Parliament voted by a narrow majority to refer the trade agreement signed over the weekend between the EU and the South American Mercosur countries to the European Court of Justice. The court is to examine whether the agreement is in line with EU treaties, which will delay its ratification for some time. European media outlets discuss the consequences and significance of the decision.
EU Commission should bypass Parliament
For the Süddeutsche Zeitung the European Parliament's vote amounts to a declaration of failure:
“It demonstrates the geostrategic blindness of left-wing (and right-wing) forces in Europe who supported the motion, including the Greens, who are clearly beyond help at this point. ... What remains: in the same week that Donald Trump, who is toying with the idea of annexing Greenland, trampled on the remains of the transatlantic alliance, a few principled individuals in the Parliament in Strasbourg have exposed their beloved EU to ridicule. The Commission should now bypass Parliament (which it has the right to do) and bring the agreement into force ahead of schedule and without ratification. It didn't want to do this, but it is allowed to. Now it has no other choice.”
A vote that conveys uncertainty and weakness
ABC rails against a counterproductive stance in difficult times:
“This is a direct blow to the European Commission and Ursula von der Leyen in particular, who has made the agreement a strategic priority. The institutional conflict is unprecedented: while the Commission is seeking to accelerate the agreement's entry into force, the Parliament has called its legal basis into question. ... The vote has brought together ideological extremes who coincide in their opposition to a treaty championed by Brussels as a commercial shield against Trump's isolationism. The decision will slow down Europe's economic diversification and signals legal uncertainty and weakness at a time when the EU urgently needs to project strength.”
Europe's agriculture in danger
The Mercosur agreement needs to be revised, urges Le Soir:
“The concerns voiced by several agricultural sectors clearly show that some fear being sacrificed on the altar of the trade balance, brutally exposed to competition from an agro-industrial model that promises to crush them. Should agricultural products be treated in the same way as all other goods in such free trade agreements, placed on the same level as cars and machine tools? This is a burning question at a time when the European Commission is getting ready to sign another free trade agreement, this time with India.”