Most EU countries back Mercosur trade deal, Poland votes against
A qualified majority of European Union nations have agreed to advance the landmark EU-Mercosur trade deal, paving the way for its signature, despite strong opposition from several counties including Poland, according to an EU source.
In addition to Poland, France, Ireland, Hungary, and Austria voted against the agreement, while Belgium abstained, the source said. The vote took place at a meeting of EU member state ambassadors in Brussels on Friday.
The EU-Mercosur trade agreement opens Mercosur markets (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay) to EU industrial goods by cutting tariffs (e.g., on cars, machinery) while granting tariff preferences for Mercosur agricultural products like beef, poultry, sugar, and ethanol, using quotas for sensitive items, aiming to boost trade and investment, though it faces challenges over EU farmers' concerns and environmental standards, requiring ratification by both blocs and stricter safeguards.
Earlier, EU ambassadors agreed to a reinforced safeguard clause for the EU-Mercosur trade deal to protect European farmers from import surges.
Meanwhile, on Friday Polish farmers staged a protest over the Mercosur trade deal in central Warsaw. They say the deal could flood Polish and wider European markets with significantly cheaper food imports, threatening local producers.
Earlier that day, President Karol Nawrocki met with farmers involved in organising the protest. One of the participants in the meeting, Damian Murawiec from the Grassroots National Agricultural Protest, said that Nawrocki had declared his willingness to cooperate with the agricultural community, and that a meeting of the President's Council for Agriculture would be held next week.
Nawrocki's spokesperson, Rafal Leskiewicz, told a press conference after the meeting that "the president did everything to prevent the agreement with Mercosur from being signed." He added that "there is still a chance to block the agreement and the government has until January 12 to prevent Ursula von der Leyen from signing this harmful agreement on behalf of the European Union in Paraguay."
Leskiewicz claimed that the government had made no real effort to "effectively strengthen Poland's position" or to build a blocking majority, and is now attempting to shift responsibility for that failure onto the president. He called on ministers to disclose "all documents and positions sent to European organisations and countries" that could prove that there were attempts to build an opposing coalition.
Later on Friday, Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski said he would refer the EU-Mercosur trade deal to the EU Court of Justice.
"We will not give up, this will be the subject of a report to the Court of Justice of the European Union," he declared in the Sejm lower house. (PAP)
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