Provisional application of Mercosur by the EU: “Bad news for France”, declares Emmanuel Macron

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced this Friday that the EU would provisionally apply Mercosur, despite criticism.

Emmanuel Macron estimated this Friday that the decision of the European Commission to provisionally apply the trade agreement with Mercosur was “a bad surprise” for France, which was opposed to it, and “bad manners” for the European Parliament.

“The European Commission made the unilateral choice to provisionally apply the agreement with Mercosur, even though the European Parliament did not vote for it. She thus assumes a very heavy responsibility,” protested the French president during a statement alongside Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob in Paris. “It is a great responsibility towards the farmers who have expressed their concerns and for whom the Europeans have not yet provided the necessary visibility,” he said, judging that this decision reinforced “their uncertainty”.

“We will be uncompromising in respecting the rules”

“It is also a great responsibility towards European citizens and their representatives who have not been duly respected,” further denounced the Head of State. “For France it’s a surprise, and a bad surprise. And for the European Parliament it is bad manners,” he insisted. He promised to ensure that “what we have negotiated hard in recent months is respected” in terms of rules to regulate agricultural trade with Mercosur.

“We will be uncompromising in respecting these rules, because our Europe has greatly increased the rules on our producers in recent years. And so I will never defend an agreement that is lax with regard to what we import and harsh with regard to what we produce at home because it is inconsistent for the European consumer and it is criminal for European sovereignty,” Emmanuel Macron further affirmed.

“The decision to provisionally apply Mercosur is a forceful move in defiance of the vote of European parliamentarians. The Commission alone takes a heavy responsibility towards our farmers and European citizens. We will be uncompromising so that the guarantees obtained by France are respected: agricultural safeguards, mirror measures, reinforced controls,” the Minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad, for his part, was indignant about X.

The president of the National Rally (RN) deputies Marine Le Pen estimated on Friday on X that the EU was “overriding the votes of the National Assembly and the European Parliament”. “This unilateral and dangerous decision is a serious attack on democracy and the sovereignty of Nations,” she said. “The Commission is trampling on the vote of the European Parliament which suspended this agreement and it is betraying the farmers already weakened by the crisis of a model built on liberalism”, also affirmed the French Socialist Party on X.

Germany, for its part, welcomed a decision which will bring “prosperity and growth”. “It’s Europe’s time (…), businesses and citizens on both continents can finally benefit from greater prosperity and increased growth,” welcomed the German Minister of Foreign Affairs in a message on X Johann Wadephul, describing the agreement as “historic”.