Poland will file a complaint to the European Union’s top court about the bloc’s Mercosur trade deal with South America, Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said.
The Polish government has strongly opposed the agreement, arguing that it will harm farmers and undermine food security, shares echoed by Irish farmers and some Irish MEPs. Farmers say the deal would allow the bloc to be flooded by cheap imports of South American commodities, including beef, while producers in that region are not obliged to meet the EU’s food safety standards and green regulations. The European Commission argues that the deal will benefit EU producers and suppliers.
“Poland will file a complaint against the European Union-Mercosur agreement with the Court of Justice of the European Union,” Kosiniak-Kamysz was quoted as telling reporters by state news agency PAP.
“We will challenge this agreement,” he said. “Food security is threatened, consumer protection is threatened, and the way the agreement was implemented is not correct.”
However, Politico described the complaint as a “largely symbolic gesture” saying the move followed “weeks of domestic pressure” after the Polish parliament passed a resolution in mid-March urging the government to act against the Mercosur deal.
In January, the European Parliament voted to the deal to the courts, potentially holding up its ratification by two years.