AUR MEPs: Ursula von der Leyen has no legal mandate to sign the MERCOSUR Agreement

Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) MEPs Georgiana Teodorescu, Adrian Axinia and Gheorghe Piperea have officially notified the European Commission and the European Council regarding the lack of the legal mandate necessary for the signing of the EU-MERCOSUR Agreement, announced for the coming days in Paraguay.

According to the AUR, in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the signing of an international agreement of such magnitude cannot take place without a formal decision of the Council of the European Union, adopted in a legally convened meeting or through a completed written procedure, in which the ministers of the Member States express their vote and political mandate. A simple meeting of COREPER II cannot substitute for this mandatory stage, as COREPER has an exclusively technical and preparatory role, without decision-making powers.

“In the absence of a decision by the EU Council, Ursula von der Leyen does not have the legal right to sign the MERCOSUR Agreement, and such an action would represent a serious violation of European procedures and treaties in force. AUR MEPs emphasize that, if an emergency meeting of the EU Council were to be convened before the announced trip to Paraguay, a minister with direct competence, namely the Minister of Economy or the Minister of Agriculture, could sign on behalf of Romania. Such a meeting would make visible, for the first time, how a USR minister or a PSD minister actually votes on an agreement that seriously affects Romanian farmers and the national economy,” AUR reports in a press release.

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AUR believes that “this is the moment of truth: Romanians must know with what mandate, on whose behalf and in whose interest the representatives of the Romanian government are voting on an international agreement with a major economic, social and agricultural impact.”

AUR argues that the signing of the MERCOSUR Agreement could be legally challenged

„The AUR MEPs warn that any circumvention of the EU Council and the ministers of the member states undermines democratic control, institutional legality and decision-making sovereignty of the states, and the signing of the MERCOSUR Agreement under these conditions risks being legally challenged.

The Alliance for the Unity of Romanians will continue all the political and institutional steps necessary to defend the interests of Romanian farmers, the national economy and the strict observance of the European treaties,” the statement concludes.

The trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc was approved on Friday by the EU member states, after over 25 years of negotiations.