EU court won’t suspend Mercosur deal
The vice-president of the EU’s highest court has rejected an application from Poland to suspend the provisional application of a trade deal agreed between the EU and the Mercosur countries in South America.
The provisional deal, known as the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA), has been in effect since 1 May this year after a decision by the EU Council.
As well as seeking an annulment of the decision, Poland applied to the EU Court of Justice for interim measures to suspend its implementation.
‘Genuine risk’ claim
It claimed that the EU Council decision infringed the EU treaties and represented an abuse of powers, while it also argued that the liberalisation of agricultural products in the deal represented “a genuine risk of harm to human and animal health and to the environment” in the EU.
In a ruling yesterday (29 September) the court’s vice-president said that a judge could suspend the operation of a decision only if it was established that the suspension was urgent and necessary to avoid serious and irreparable damage before the court delivered its judgment in the main action.
Thomas von Danwitz found, however, that Poland had not sufficiently demonstrated that implementing the decision on the provisional application of the ITA was liable to cause such damage.
Commission’s powers
The judge also noted that imports into the EU form Mercosur countries were subject to food-safety and health regulations similar to those for products manufactured in the EU.
“Furthermore, in accordance with the provisions of the ITA, the European Union may impose measures preventing agricultural products which do not comply with the sanitary, phytosanitary and environmental standards in force from entering its territory, and may adopt emergency measures in the event of serious risks to human, animal or plant life or health,” he added.
Describing Poland’s claims as “general and abstract”, he concluded that they took no account of the powers available to the European Commission to protect the economic and social situation of EU farmers and food security.