“If they want to block the Mercosur agreement, they should support the motion to dismiss Ursula von der Leyen,” says Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Adam Bielan. MEPs from Law and Justice (PiS) sharply criticized politicians from the Civic Coalition for their lack of effective action regarding the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. At a press conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, they accused them of failing to persuade their political family – the European People’s Party – to support a motion to refer the agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The head of the Law and Justice (PiS) delegation in the European Parliament, Adam Bielan, emphasized that his party’s opposition to Mercosur has been consistent and long-standing.
“The PiS government has always been against this agreement, contrary to the propaganda being spread today on social media by other political parties,” said the MEP.
As he added, the timing of the signing of the agreement is not accidental.
“This agreement was signed only after Platform and PSL came to power. In our view, everything that politicians forming the European People’s Party are doing in the European Parliament – which is firmly in favor of this agreement – amounts to merely symbolic actions,” Bielan assessed.
The PiS MEP also criticized the so-called safeguards negotiated by the European Commission.
“We also regard the negotiations of the so-called safeguards (including trade quotas) in this agreement as merely symbolic actions. They have not been successful from Poland’s point of view,” he stressed.
He also announced PiS’s unequivocal stance:
“Therefore, we will firmly vote against the Mercosur agreement in all votes, including those concerning a request for an opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union.”
Bielan linked the Mercosur issue with the planned vote on a motion to dismiss European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“The applicants clearly point to the way this agreement was signed – not only the fact that it was signed, but the manner of its signing, bypassing the treaty-guaranteed role of the European Parliament – as the reason for dismissing Ursula von der Leyen,” he said. And he added:
“If they want to block the Mercosur agreement, they should support this motion to dismiss Ursula von der Leyen.”
MEP Waldemar Buda noted that the stance of the European People’s Party will be crucial.
“The question is simple: are Platform and PSL MEPs able to persuade their colleagues in the EPP to let this motion pass? (…) We have doubts,” he admitted.
Meanwhile, ECR co-chair Patryk Jaki recalled that EU treaties require the consent of the European Parliament for the implementation of the agreement.
“The problem is that in this case the European Parliament was not consulted first, so the spirit of the treaty is clearly being violated,” he argued. Jaki used a strong comparison, calling Mercosur “Nord Stream 3.”
“Because once again we are seeing a deal like with the first and second Nord Stream. Domestic energy production was abandoned in order to receive cheap gas quickly. And now domestic food production will be abandoned in order to sell cars quickly,” he argued.