The Court of Justice of the EU will determine if the accord with South American nations is compatible with the bloc’s policy.
The European Parliament has voted to refer the European Union’s contentious free trade agreement with four South American countries to the bloc’s top court, casting a veil of uncertainty over the future of the accord as it ended a 25-year wait.
In a close ballot on Wednesday, lawmakers in the French city of Strasbourg voted 334 to 324 in favour of asking the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine whether the deal backed by most EU nations and the European Commission is compatible with the bloc’s policy.
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The EU signed its largest-ever trade pact on Saturday, after 25 years of negotiations.
It eliminates tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade, and favours the European exports of cars, wine and cheese, while making it easier for South American beef, poultry, sugar, rice, honey and soya beans to enter Europe.
Offsetting US tariffs
Supporters, including Germany and Spain, argued the deal was essential to offset business lost to United States tariffs and to reduce reliance on China by securing access to critical minerals.
Its signature was hailed as a significant geopolitical victory for the EU in an age of US tariffs and surging Chinese exports, expanding the bloc’s foothold in a resource-rich region increasingly contested by Washington and Beijing.
Opposers, including France, Poland and farmer groups, said the agreement would sharply increase imports of cheap beef, sugar and poultry, undercutting domestic farmers who have staged repeated protests.
The EU executive said it “regrets” the European Parliament’s decision to bloc the deal with the South American trade bloc, known as Mercosur (Mercado Comun del Sur, or Southern Common Market) and comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
“According to our analysis, the questions raised in the motion by the parliament are not justified because the commission has already addressed those questions and issues in a very detailed way,” European Commission trade spokesman Olof Gill told reporters in Brussels.
The EU Court of Justice must now rule on whether its provisions restrict the EU’s ability to set environmental and consumer health policies. The court typically takes around two years to deliver such opinions, and the ruling could then force the deal to be amended.
The EU could still apply the pact provisionally pending the ruling and parliamentary approval, and the European Parliament would retain the power to annul it later.
But doing so could prove politically difficult given the likely backlash. Thousands of farmers driving tractors and waving flags staged a protest at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, ahead of the vote.
