Dear Ms Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission,
Dear Mr Costa, President of the European Council,
We urge you to respect democratic processes and refrain from applying the EU-Mercosur trade agreement before the European Parliament has exercised its right to vote on the deal.
The EU-Mercosur agreement is highly controversial with concerns being repeatedly raised by many citizens and civil society groups, both in the EU and in Mercosur countries, over issues such as food safety standards, impacts on jobs and farming, and deforestation. In our democracy, it is vital that people’s voices are heard on matters such as these.
The democratic basis of the agreement has already been put in question. The trade deal has only been able to proceed as a result of contentious decisions that bypassed national parliaments. Then the approval of the Council was only given by a narrow majority – the first time ever that a EU trade agreement has gone ahead without unanimous support among EU Member States. Now the European Parliament has asked the European Court of Justice for advice on legal concerns with the agreement, which sends a clear signal that MEPs do not want to bulldoze the agreement through without proper scrutiny.
Applying the trade deal now, without the Court’s opinion and without MEPs’ consent, would trample over the democratic processes that exist precisely in order that citizens’ voices can be heard, represented and taken into account when disagreements arise. It would undermine public trust and the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. At a time when many in our society feel sidelined and are losing faith in political processes, opting for provisional application would be profoundly anti-democratic and would risk inflaming tensions within EU countries as well as between them.
We call on you to support established democratic principles and commit to wait for the Court’s opinion and the European Parliament’s consent vote before going ahead with the application of the EU-Mercosur agreement.