244 votes to 1. French parliament against the EU-Mercosur agreement

France's lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, adopted a resolution on Thursday on the agreement between the EU and the Mercosur bloc, calling on the government in Paris to create a minority in the bloc to block the agreement and to ask the Court of Justice of the EU to examine its compliance with EU treaties.

The resolution was adopted almost unanimously – 244 deputies voted for it and one was against. The resolution is not binding, but – as emphasized by the daily “Le Figaro” – it is nevertheless putting pressure on the executive power and a signal to President Emmanuel Macron, who recently seems to favor the agreement with Mercosur.

During the debate, MP Matthias Tavel criticized the head of state for this change of position. He recalled that “less than a year ago, Emmanuel Macron described this agreement as unacceptable,” and today “he declares that everything is going in the right direction,” although the draft agreement “has not changed a single line.” On the other side of the political scene, Julien Limongi, an MP from the far-right National Rally (RN), accused the president of preparing to deal the “final blow” to French agriculture.

Eric Martineau from the centrist MoDem party, which is part of the president's camp, argued that despite “some progress”, the EU-Mercosur agreement in its current form does not meet the demands expressed in parliament.

Only deputies of Macron's Rebirth party, led in parliament by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, abstained from voting on the resolution in the ruling camp.

At the beginning of September, the European Commission adopted a trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay). In response to the concerns of the agricultural sector, it announced the so-called emergency brake in case of surplus products and the possibility of compensation. Despite this, the agreement is controversial in EU countries.

From Paris Anna Wróbel (PAP)

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