{"id":686376,"date":"2026-01-10T08:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686376\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T08:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:49:25","slug":"irish-meps-to-oppose-mercosur-deal-in-final-european-parliament-ratification-vote-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686376\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish MEPs to oppose Mercosur deal in final European Parliament ratification vote \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Union<\/a> (EU) states have approved a significant trade deal with a bloc of South American countries, opening up a big new market for European producers but drawing backlash from farmers. <\/p>\n

The Mercosur<\/a> trade deal has for years been a contentious flashpoint between efforts to expand the union\u2019s global influence and the powerful farming lobby in many European countries. <\/p>\n

A sufficient majority of EU states backed the trade deal in a vote in Brussels on Friday, paving the way for its adoption after years of false starts. <\/p>\n

What is the Mercosur trade deal? <\/p>\n

The largest trade deal negotiated by the EU<\/a>, the agreement with four South American Mercosur<\/a> countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) would see import duties phased out on 91 per cent of EU goods. In return, these countries could sell goods to the EU with fewer restrictions. <\/p>\n

Who is for and against it? <\/b><\/p>\n

Fans of the deal say it offers access to new markets and helps combat US tariffs. In Ireland, France and Poland, farmers fear more beef coming into the EU. <\/p>\n

The programme for government codified Ireland\u2019s opposition to Mercosur, committing it to \u201cwork with like-minded EU countries\u201d in opposing the deal. <\/p>\n

France<\/a>, Ireland, Poland<\/a>, Austria<\/a> and Hungary<\/a> voted against the agreement and Belgium abstained. Germany<\/a>, Spain<\/a>, Italy<\/a> and the remaining 18 EU states supported it. <\/p>\n

The trade agreement will now need to be ratified by a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament, where voting coalitions have become much more volatile and unpredictable.<\/p>\n

It appears unlikely that an already shaky centrist majority in the parliament will be able to rely on the support of Irish, French and Polish MEPs. Parties on the far right, the Greens and other left-wing MEPs are also expected to oppose it. <\/p>\n

Of Ireland\u2019s 14 MEPs, only Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Barry Andrews has said he will vote for the deal. Fine Gael\u2019s Regina Doherty said she is \u201cminded\u201d to back the agreement. <\/p>\n

Her party colleague Sean Kelly did not respond to questions, but all other Irish MEPs have committed to vote against it. <\/p>\n

The deal, which has been negotiated on and off for more than 25 years, will lower barriers to trade between Europe and the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.<\/p>\n

Irish farmers are concerned about the extra 99,000 tonnes of beef the deal will allow Mercosur countries to sell into the European market. Farmers fear they will be undercut by cheaper Brazilian and Argentinian products that may not have been produced to the EU\u2019s strict environmental standards. <\/p>\n

The Government voted against the deal following pressure from farming organisations, rural Independent TDs who support the Coalition, as well as Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il backbenchers. <\/p>\n

In a statement after the vote, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said Ireland would continue its opposition to the Mercosur deal as the ratification process moves to the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said the Government is in favour of free trade, but \u201cnot at any cost\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the Government had worked \u201cliterally up to five-to-midnight to see if changes and improvements could be made in terms of addressing concerns around food safety when it comes to environmental standards\u201d. He said \u201cit wasn\u2019t possible to make enough progress\u201d.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste added that Ireland would continue to work to change the deal to address farmers\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Playing small politics\u2019: Mercosur vote will damage Ireland\u2019s influence in BrusselsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish Times view on Mercosur: a deal too far for this GovernmentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

While placating domestic opponents of the deal, Ireland\u2019s vote is likely to damage its standing in Brussels<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The European Commission, the EU\u2019s powerful executive that leads on trade and negotiated the deal, has insisted any negative impacts will not be as dire as beef farmers fear. <\/p>\n

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the deal as Europe\u2019s response to an \u201cincreasingly hostile and transactional\u201d world. <\/p>\n

Ms Von der Leyen is expected to travel to Paraguay later this month for a signing ceremony. The trade pact would fully enter into force once the European Parliament votes to ratify it. <\/p>\n

Francie Gorman, Irish Farmers\u2019 Association (IFA) president, said it would now focus its lobbying efforts on the parliament vote in the coming weeks, as a way to block the agreement. <\/p>\n

The maximum amount of South American beef the trade pact would permit into Europe at lower tariff rates would equate to about 1.5 per cent of beef produced by all EU states. <\/p>\n

\"\"Could Coalition politics hurt Ireland\u2019s influence in Brussels?<\/p>\n

Ireland currently only exports a very small amount of agri-food products to Mercosur countries. Steep import tariffs ranging up to 55 per cent effectively make trade unviable, but these duties will be slashed or removed entirely as part of the trade deal.<\/p>\n

Irish whiskey and dairy, the Republic\u2019s big pharmaceutical industry and other Irish businesses would be expected to benefit from easier access to the South American market. <\/p>\n

EU commissioner Michael McGrath said the deal would bring \u201cconcrete economic benefits\u201d and it included adequate safeguards to protect the agriculture sector. <\/p>\n

The commission made a number of last-minute concessions to the French and Italian governments, which were seen as crucial to locking in the support of Rome, the key swing vote. <\/p>\n

However, the French government could not be brought around, judging that domestic pushback from protesting farmers would be too great if Paris voted for the trade deal. <\/p>\n

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for France to suspend future contributions to the EU budget, in protest over the trade agreement being approved. <\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, a staunch supporter of the deal, said it would allow Europe to build \u201cnew bridges and alliances\u201d in response to \u201ctariffs and threats\u201d it was facing elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European Union (EU) states have approved a significant trade deal with a bloc of South American countries, opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,2557,1699,22708],"class_list":{"0":"post-686376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-commission","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-mercosur"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115869945920392020","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}