The head of the Law and Justice (PiS) delegation in the European Parliament, MEP Adam Bielan, said on Tuesday that the European People’s Party (EPP) group – under pressure from his delegation and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – has withdrawn its “scandalous” motion concerning the EU–Mercosur trade agreement. The agreement is very disadvantageous for Poland, he added.
EPP Miscalculated
On Tuesday, during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, a vote was scheduled on whether to consider urgently a draft regulation introducing a so-called safety brake for the EU’s trade agreement with Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay). Moments before the vote, however, Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced that the motion had been withdrawn.
At the press conference, Bielan said that the EPP “is striving to ratify the Mercosur agreement through the so-called fast-track procedure.”
“Today, under pressure from our delegation and from the European Conservatives and Reformists group, the EPP withdrew this scandalous motion. Nevertheless, we know that a vote will most likely take place during the December session. We appeal to (Prime Minister) Donald Tusk and to the politicians of Civic Platform (PO) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL), who sit in the EPP, to influence their group’s leadership so that they abandon this policy, which is very harmful not only to Poland but to the entire EU,” he said.
Another PiS MEP, Waldemar Buda, said at the press conference that the European Commission plans to announce the closure of the ratification procedure at the EU level on December 20 during a summit with Mercosur states in Rio de Janeiro. He added that the EPP group in the European Parliament, which includes KO and PSL, had submitted a motion to apply an urgent procedure to adopt the safety measures attached to the Mercosur agreement.
“They withdrew it (…) but only because they probably counted the votes and realised that it might not pass at this session. But the intention was simple: they wanted to clear the way for ratification and for the announcement on December 20,” he argued.
“We appeal from here (…) for Donald Tusk to take action today to build a blocking minority (against the Mercosur agreement),” Buda urged.
He announced that the ECR would be submitting amendments to the agreement in the European Parliament. “However, we would prefer that the entire agreement does not enter into force, not just the safety measures.”