The European Union will implement the Mercosur deal while waiting for the European Court of Justice’s decision on its legality, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday, February 27th.
The European Commission move, announced after Argentina and Uruguay ratified the agreement Thursday, comes despite strong opposition from France.
“The Commission will now proceed with provisional application,” von der Leyen announced, while stressing the deal “can only be fully concluded once the European Parliament has given its consent.”
France’s agriculture minister Annie Genevard reacted on Friday saying
It is a decision that I regret. It is not in line with the respect that should have been shown for the European Parliament’s decision.
She denounced the provisional application as “very damaging to the functioning of our institutions and, above all, to the spirit of our European institutions.”
