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Mélenchon demands that the Mercosur-EU treaty be discussed in the National Assembly

The government deemed inadmissible a proposed resolution from LFI aimed at refusing the treaty. At the beginning of October, a similar resolution proposal from the RN group was also refused.

The leader of Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, requested on Sunday the organization of a debate in the National Assembly on the free trade treaty between the European Union and Mercosur, “and that it does not apply if the French do not vote for it”.

“Mr Macron, stop your circus with Mercosur. We demand that this treaty be discussed in the National Assembly and that it not apply if the French do not vote for it”ordered Jean-Luc Mélenchon to the President of the Republic, during an interview on France 3. The group of Insoumis deputies had planned the examination in its parliamentary slot on November 28 of a proposed resolution inviting the government to refuse this treaty.

The government deemed it inadmissible on November 5, just as a similar resolution proposal from the RN group had been deemed inadmissible at the beginning of October. The president of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Aurélie Trouvé (LFI), announced Saturday on franceinfo that her group was going to table a new motion for a resolution to request the organization of a debate, under the article 50-1 of the Constitution, so that “the National Assembly can decide against this agreement”.

This proposal will be finalized on Monday, she told AFP. The former leader of Attac strongly criticized the attitude of the head of state, judging that “if the agreement is signed, the first person responsible will be President Macron who, for years and years, let these negotiations take place” et “led to believe that a good treaty would be possible”.

Not “too late”

She also considered that France was slow to try to organize the rebellion at European level against this text. “It might be time to actually organize a blocking minority”she said. He is “probably late”but not necessarily “too late”to block “the commercial part” of the agreement, also estimated on Radio J the PS deputy and former President of the Republic François Hollande.

To do this, at least four EU member states, representing at least 35% of the EU population, must oppose it, he recalled. For her part, LFI MEP Manon Aubry sent Ursula Von Der Leyen an open letter signed according to her by more than 130 parliamentarians from 13 countries, calling on the President of the European Commission to renounce the conclusion of the treaty.

“This is the first time that a transnational appeal has been published, demonstrating that the issue goes beyond the simple borders of French agriculture”she stressed to AFP. The missive, published by the newspaper La Tribune on Sunday, also denounces the Commission's alleged plan to split the agreement into two “to circumvent the ratification of national Parliaments”.

French farmers plan to mobilize from Monday against this treaty – negotiated for decades between the EU and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia) – that the European Commission, supported by several countries like Germany and Spain, hopes to sign by the end of the year. The subject is also on the menu of President Macron's tour of Latin America, which began Saturday evening and runs until Thursday.

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