Supporters of the agreement had hoped to take a shortcut without committee processing for a side piece of the agreement. But just before the vote was to be held in the parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, it was withdrawn by the dominant conservative EPP party group.
"The issue of Mercosur is very sensitive in a large number of countries in Europe. We did not consider that voting today would have helped us reach the final goal," explains Tomas Tobé (M), one of the EPP vice-chairs.
The side issue – regarding the protection rules that the European Commission has developed to help European farmers in a crisis situation – will now be handled as usual by Parliament's Trade Committee in early December.
Despite that, agreement supporters still hope for the green light for the entire agreement in mid-December, despite opposition from France and various agricultural and environmental organizations.
