How did Irish MEPs vote on motion to refer Mercosur deal to court?
Today (Wednesday, January 21) the majority of MEPs at the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted in favour of a resolution requesting legal advice from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to see if the EU Mercosur Partnership Agreement and Interim Trade Agreement are compliant with the Treaties of the EU.
This effectively delays the formal ratification of the deal until the legal advice is provided, with some sources stating that it could take 18-24 months.
The European Council, which is made up of government representatives from each member state, voted in favour of the trade deal with the South American countries of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina earlier this month.
This gave commission president Ursula von der Leyen the go-ahead to travel to South America, to formally sign the partnership agreement with the Mercosur countries.
However, the agreement still has to be passed by the European Parliament to be implemented in full, a process that had been expected to take place in April or May of this year.
While the European Commission does have the legal framework to provisionally apply the terms of the trade deal in the meantime, there has always been an institutional arrangement that it would await parliament approval before implementing such deals.
However, now with such a delay expected, it's not yet known if the European Commission will go ahead and provisionally apply the terms of the trade deal.
How did the Irish MEPs vote?
Today's vote at the parliament saw 334 MEPs vote in favour of referring the deal to the European courts, and 324 voting against such a move. 11 MEPs abstained from voting at all.
Below is a table of how all the Irish MEPs voted on the resolution.
| MEP (party & EU) political grouping | YES | NO |
|---|---|---|
| Nina Carberry (FG / EPP) | ✔ | |
| Barry Cowen (FF / Renew) | ✔ | |
| Billy Kelleher ( FF / Renew) | ✔ | |
| Michael McNamara (Independent / Renew) | ✔ | |
| Ciaran Mullooly (Independent Ireland / Renew) | ✔ | |
| Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (FF / Renew) | ✔ | |
| Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour / S&D) | ✔ | |
| Lynn Boylan (SF / The Left) | ✔ | |
| Kathleen Funchion (SF / The Left) | ✔ | |
| Regina Doherty (FG / EPP) | ✔ | |
| Sean Kelly (FG/ EPP) | ✔ | |
| Maria Walsh (FG / EPP) | ✔ | |
| Barry Andrews (FF/ Renew) | ✔ | |
| Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (Independent / The Left) | Absent | Absent |
Although, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan was absent for medical reasons, he was one of the MEPs who signed the resolution proposing that the deal be referred to the ECJ.
EU Mercosur Partnership Agreement
The EU Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) has two strands - the political, research cooperation element and then the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA).
It's an agreement proposed by the European Commission of which Ursula von der Leyen of the EPP political grouping is president, and was voted for by member states earlier in January at European Council level.
It applies to the EU 27 member states and the four Mercosur countries of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina representing a amrket area of about 700 million consumers.
The European Parliament has yet to formally vote on the deal as a whole.
Most MEPs and member states don't have particular issue with the first strand relating to cooperation, but some member states have major concerns about the trade deal element.
Some prominent terms of the deal would mean 99,000t of Brazilian beef can be exported to the EU from Mercosur countries (mostly Brazil) at a reduced tariff rate of 7.5%. It is worth nothing that Brazil already exports beef to the EU.
In exchange EU exporters would have access to the Mercosur market at far reduced tariffs also which will be of huge benefit not just to the car manufacturing industry in Europe, but also smaller producers of products such as olive oil, wine and even dairy.
