After voting on Mercosur
Greens distance themselves from decision “without a compass”
Green Party politicians call the delay in the Mercosur agreement a “fatal signal” – even though many of their own MEPs voted for it. There is regret from the group.
Criticism from within our own ranks of the Greens’ voting behavior in the EU Parliament on the Mercosur trade agreement is becoming increasingly louder and sharper. The decision to have the agreement reviewed by the European Court of Justice was “without a compass,” wrote former Green Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin on
The co-party leader Felix Banaszak expressed himself more diplomatically, but was also not happy with the Green MPs’ decision. “The signal yesterday was not one of European determination in terms of timing, which would have been right in my view,” said Banaszak on Deutschlandfunk.
Continued concerns Mercosur agreement
With the “timing” he is referring to US President Donald Trump’s visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos. The EU could have shown that day that it also has other trading partners – namely four large South American countries. It would be a huge free trade area without the USA.
But Parliament is first referring the Mercosur agreement to the ECJ. How long it will take to make a decision is unclear. Although the agreement has been negotiated for 25 years, there are still concerns, as Green MEP Anna Cavazzini emphasized before the vote.
The losers are the European farmers, who have been protesting against the agreement for a long time, but also potentially the European consumers and, above all, the climate.
Weber: “Unholy alliance” in the EU Parliament
In the end, the vast majority of the German Greens in the EU Parliament voted for the review – together with right-wing and far-left parties. The parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, called this “politically stupid” and “instinctless”.
The CSU politician and chairman of the conservative EPP group in the EU Parliament, Manfred Weber, spoke of “a pretty unholy alliance” that “voted against German and European business interests.”
Greens regret voting with right-wing extremists
Erik Marquardt, the head of the German Greens’ delegation in the EU Parliament, also voted in favor of the legal review by the ECJ. Now he regrets that the majority only came about with right-wing extremists. “We will think carefully about how we can avoid something like this in the future,” announced Marquardt.
Marquardt also emphasized that ARD capital studioit was not a vote on the agreement itself, but on clarifying complicated legal issues. The Greens are for Mercosur – despite years of resistance.
Trade agreement provisionally applicable
This is probably also meant as a gesture of reconciliation to the Green Party’s election campaigners, for example to Cem Özdemir, who wants to become Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg in March. Özdemir has already distanced himself from the voting behavior of his colleagues in Brussels.
Katharina Schulze from the Green Party in Bavaria, for whom local elections are due in March, also criticized the vote. “Despite this fatal signal, the agreement can now come into force,” said Schulze. The trade agreement should therefore be applied even though it was still being examined. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz also supports this approach. However, the decision on this is still pending.
