Seattle to Brussels Network | 19 May 2023

An Attack on Democracy: New Legal Analysis on Splitting of EU-Mercosur Deal

A new legal analysis lifts the lid on an attempt by the European Commission to “split” the EU-Mercosur trade deal, in order to approve the ‘trade’ part of the deal without the unanimous support of EU member states and without national ratification by parliaments throughout the EU. The analysis shows that this would be a violation of the negotiating mandate that EU member states give to the European Commission.

Download the Analysis here for more: The EU Commission’s possible attempts to fast track the EU Mercosur deal – Legal Analysis by Prof Krajewski, May 2023 (1)

Civil society organisations are calling on EU Member states to:

• Firmly reject any Commission attempts to split the EU-Mercosur trade agreement from the association agreement envisaged in the negotiating mandate as well as any attempts to force the approval of said deal as an “interim” free trade agreement.

• Should the Commission present a proposal for the adoption of a “split” or of an “interim” free trade agreement, immediately seek the opinion of the European Court of Justice on the basis of Article 218 (11) TFEU on the compatibility of the said “split” or “interim” agreements with the EU Treaties.

The analysis was commissioned by Greenpeace and authored by Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski and Julian Werner.

Photo: La Via Campesina