Mélenchon calls for a debate and a vote in the Assembly on the EU-Mercosur agreement

Will Mercosur be rejected by the French? This is the bet that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is making. Guest of the France 3 show, Dimanche en politique, this November 17, the leader of France insoumise requested the organization of a debate on this free trade treaty between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur.

The Assembly at the front

In the style we know from him, the rebel challenged the President of the Republic: “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”. The group of Insoumis deputies had also planned the examination in its parliamentary niche on November 28 of a proposed resolution inviting the government to refuse this treaty, which was deemed inadmissible by the government on November 5.

READ ALSO: Agriculture: how the EU Mercosur agreement risks burdening French farmers

With this in mind to put the free trade treaty at the center of the political debate, 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 proposal resolution to request the organization of a debate, under article 50-1 of the Constitution, so that “the National Assembly can decide against this agreement”.

The former leader of Attac also 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”.

The targeted commercial part

At the heart of the debates on the treaty, the question of agriculture, which represents a real danger for French producers, who would then be victims of South American competition, while German industry could export part of its goods to this new market. A month ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German Wholesale Federation that “negotiations with Mercosur should be concluded quickly”.

READ ALSO: Mercosur: Macron's helplessness and the Germans' snub… What if we were doing it the other way around?

It is the entire commercial part of the agreement which is called into question by a large part of the left, up to the former President of the Republic François Hollande, who declared on Radio J that it is “probably late “, but not necessarily ” too late “to block “the commercial part”. To do this, at least four EU member states, representing at least 35% of the EU population, must oppose it.

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 La Tribune Sundayalso denounces the Commission's alleged plan to split the agreement into two “to circumvent the ratification of national Parliaments”.

READ ALSO: Anger of farmers: Macron's reversals on the agreement between the EU and Mercosur

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) – which 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 next Thursday.