2025-11-24 19:12
publication
2025-11-24 19:12
The European Parliament will decide on Tuesday whether to give urgent procedure to the procedure for approving the trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of countries. Deputy Minister of Development Michał Baranowski talked on Monday with French Minister of Trade Nicolas Forissier about the common position of both countries towards the agreement.
Tuesday's vote at the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg will concern the draft regulation introducing the so-called fuses that are intended to protect the EU market against excess imports, e.g. of beef or poultry from the Mercosur bloc of South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay). Member States completed work on this regulation on November 19. If the European Parliament agrees to proceed with it urgently on Tuesday, the vote on the project itself will take place next Thursday.
The adoption of the regulation will pave the way for the final approval of the trade agreement by the EP and member states in the EU Council. This is to take place before the Mercosur summit on December 20 in Brazil, which will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The agreement will mean that Mercosur countries will be able to export agricultural products on more favorable terms, although – in the EC's opinion – these quantities will be so low that they will not cause disruptions on the EU market. However, in the EU, the industry, e.g. the automotive industry, is expected to benefit from the agreement.
For member states to accept the agreement with Mercosur, 15 of them must vote in favor, and together they must constitute 65 percent. EU population. The agreement may also be blocked by a minority of at least four countries.
In the opinion of Deputy Minister of Development Michał Baranowski, who took part in a meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday, it is still possible to build such a blocking minority. After meeting with a member of the French government on Monday, Baranowski said that at the moment – even despite the fuses proposed by the EC – France is against the agreement. – France would not be able to vote for the agreement at the moment, so if the vote were to take place tomorrow, I hear from the French side that they would have to vote against it – said the deputy minister of development.
– My conversation with the French minister responsible for trade was very good. Very good, because it showed that Poland and France have exactly the same understanding of the current state of negotiations over the Mercosur agreement – Baranowski reported his conversation.
To the comment that the opposition of Poland and France would not be enough to block the agreement, he replied that “not much happens in the EU when two large countries, such as France and Poland, are against such important agreements.”
From Brussels Magdalena Cedro (PAP)
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