{"id":532343,"date":"2026-01-21T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532343\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:33:13","slug":"eu-refers-mercosur-trade-deal-to-top-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532343\/","title":{"rendered":"EU refers Mercosur trade deal to top court"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 European Union lawmakers on Wednesday voted to hold up ratification of a major free trade agreement<\/a> with the Mercosur group of South American countries over concerns about the legality of the deal.<\/p>\n

In a vote in Strasbourg, France, lawmakers narrowly approved sending the EU-Mercosur agreement to Europe\u2019s top court to rule on whether it is in line with the bloc\u2019s treaties. The result was 334 votes in favor to 324 against, with 11 abstentions.<\/p>\n

The assembly cannot vote to approve the pact until the European Court of Justice has ruled, and this could take months.<\/p>\n

The long sought-after free trade agreement was signed into effect<\/a> on Saturday. Twenty-five years in the making, it aimed to strengthen commercial ties in the face of rising protectionism and trade tensions around the world.<\/p>\n

The deal was seen as a central priority of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who shepherded it through a key vote<\/a> on Jan. 9 among the EU\u2019s 27 leaders. \u201cThe more trading partners we have world-wide, the more independent we are,\u201d von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, pointing to Mercosur and another trade deal in the works with India. <\/p>\n

Supported by South America\u2019s cattle-raising countries and European industrial interests, the accord is aimed at gradually eliminating more than 90% of tariffs on goods ranging from Argentine beef to German cars, creating one of the world\u2019s largest free trade zones and making shopping cheaper for more than 700 million consumers.<\/p>\n

France, Europe\u2019s major agricultural producer, wanted stronger protections for farmers and has sought to delay the pact. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot welcomed the parliament\u2019s vote, saying in a social media post that the assembly \u201cexpressed itself in line with the position that we have defended. France takes responsibility for saying no when it has to, and history often proves it right. The fight continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Commission said that it \u201cstrongly regrets\u201d the parliament\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n

However, the EU\u2019s powerful executive branch can provisionally apply the deal until then. EU leaders are expected to discuss the way ahead at an emergency summit focused on transatlantic relations on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the EU parliament\u2019s decision as \u201cregrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt misjudges the geopolitical situation. We are convinced of the legality of the agreement. No further delays. The agreement must now be applied provisionally,\u201d Merz wrote.<\/p>\n

Bernd Lange, head of the parliament\u2019s committee on trade, said the vote was \u201cabsolutely irresponsible\u201d and \u201cvery harmful for our economic interests.\u201d <\/p>\n

Opponents should simply vote against ratification \u201cinstead of using delaying tactics under the guise of legal review,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Ratification is considered all but guaranteed in South America, where the agreement has broad support.<\/p>\n

Mercosur consists of the region\u2019s two biggest economies, Argentina and Brazil, as well as Paraguay and Uruguay. Bolivia, the bloc\u2019s newest member, is not included the trade deal, but could join in the coming years. Venezuela has been suspended from the bloc and is not included in the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

AP writers Sam McNeil in Brussels and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 European Union lawmakers on Wednesday voted to hold up ratification of a major free trade…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":532344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[235955,64,356,16817,440,8697,25821,57,3464,13790,57717,50,80,235115,16618,2856,333,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-532343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-bernd-lange","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-eurocopa-2024","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-friedrich-merz","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-international-agreements","17":"tag-international-trade","18":"tag-jean-noel-barrot","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-send-to-apple-news","22":"tag-tariffs-and-global-trade","23":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","24":"tag-voting","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115933584043048399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}