Independent Ireland MEP, Ciaran Mullooly has this evening (Wednesday, January 14) announced a plan for a series of events in Ireland, Brussels, Strasbourg, and across Europe against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

It follows a rally and public meeting to demonstrate opposition to the trade deal in Athlone, Co. Westmeath last Saturday (January 10), which led to a petition of opposition being signed by 30,000 people.

An invitation for Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris to travel to Strasbourg to further the case for opposing the deal has been issued.

The trade deal is the biggest deal ever negotiated by the EU and would eliminate tariffs on 91% of all products exported between the two regions, primarily machinery and automobiles going to Mercosur countries and a quota of beef coming from Brazil.

Opponents of the deal have argued that it will negatively impact the market for domestically produced beef in the EU and have also raised concerns about food production standards in South America, which are not equivalent to the stringent standards imposed on EU producers.

The European Commission has argued that safeguards have been negotiated into the deal to protect European farmers' interests and ensure compliance with food safety standards, but some MEPs believe these clauses do not go far enough.

Mullooly has announced outside Leinster House tonight that a series of events will happen over the next 10 days ahead of a vote in the European Parliament on the trade deal.

He said: "After you showed your people power in such numbers in Athlone last Saturday, this will be a plan of action - not just words."

The Independent Ireland MEP added: "We will have another vote of no confidence in the [Ursula] von der Leyen Commission next week in Strasbourg.

"That issue will probably be debated on Monday and it's expected a vote will take place on Thursday next week.

"[Also] we expect now, with fair play, that there will be a move next week and a vote to refer the entire [EU Mercosur] trade deal to the courts, to the European courts who will look, in depth, at the legality of what's being tried here."

Series of events

Mullooly explained that there are 720 MEPs in the European Parliament and said along with his colleague, Michael Fitzmaurice TD, they realise they need a majority of about 360 to win the vote of opposition.

The Independent Ireland MEP also plans to meet a number of MEPs who abstained in a vote on the Mercosur deal last year in a bid to sway their vote against the deal.

The politician said there will also be a media campaign for local and regional outlets in EU member states to present the case for opposition to the deal in the native language of several different member states.

Also speaking outside the Dáil tonight, Deputy Fitzmaurice said that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have been invited before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture to discuss food labelling during the first week of February.

He added that he and his colleagues on the committee, who had previously held discussions with Italian counterparts online, will now seek to have face-to-face meetings in the coming weeks.

The Independent Ireland TD outlined that they have also written to all state bodies, including the Health Service Executive (HSE) that purchase food to identify where that acquired food comes from.

He added that he is urging Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael colleagues to make it clear to their MEPs that the "Irish jersey has to be on the full team. There is no point in sending out three quarters of a team".

The two politicians have called on farmers to contact their local TDs and MEPs to put pressure on them to support the opposition campaign but peacefully contacting them at their constituency office.

Mullooly added that the campaign is based on two strands, the first of which will be diplomatic action and the second is 'people power'.

He has confirmed that he has officially invited Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris to attend the European Parliament in Strasbourg next week "to follow through on what they said they were agreeing to in the Programme for Government, that they would work with like-minded countries and they would seek to oppose this deal".

"Just because 'NO' was said last week, that's not the end of it for Micheál Martin and Simon Harris.

"It's an open invitation to come next week to come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to speak to their groups in the European Parliament."