Kelly reacts to Mercosur Agreement’s referral to ECJ

Yesterday I voted against a proposal to refer the process surrounding the Mercosur trade agreement to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It is worth making it clear that this was not a vote on the Mercosur Agreement itself.

Instead, this was a vote to ask the ECJ whether the splitting of the deal into the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and an Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) was legal according to the EU treaties. The approval of trade agreements in this manner has been done before – less than two years ago the agreement with Chile was voted through in the same way with broad support from Parliament. I, personally, do not see any genuine legal reasons for this referral to the court. MEPs are elected by their constituents to take decisions and the European Parliament has the power to consent to trade deals or not.

Particularly in the current geopolitical context, I feel we should respect and uphold the democratic decision-making processes of the EU, rather than undermining and weakening them for short-term political reasons. Still, I respect the decision of the majority of MEPs, and the impact of yesterday’s outcome is still to be assessed