(New: More Banaszak quotes)
BERLIN/STRASSBURG (dpa-AFX) – The German Green MPs in the European Parliament are facing headwinds from their own party for their voting behavior on the Mercosur trade agreement. The German Greens’ MEPs largely voted in favor of having the EU agreement with four South American countries reviewed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ): eight voted in favor of the review, two against, and one abstained.
The fact that the review is now taking place is partly due to the German Greens: if they had voted against it, it would not have happened.
Coordination with the extremes
What is remarkable is the joint coordination with right-wing parties. In previous votes, the Greens had sharply criticized the European People’s Party (EPP), which also includes the CDU and CSU, for voting jointly with the far-right. Likewise in the Bundestag, when the current chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) accepted AfD votes in the Bundestag for demands for a stricter migration policy.
“The fact that some Greens, together with the AfD and the Left, are delaying the entry into force of the Mercosur agreement in the current political situation is politically stupid and instinctive,” said the First Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, to the “Rheinische Post” (Friday).
Party leadership for provisional application of the agreement
Green Party leader Felix Banaszak tried to limit the damage on Deutschlandfunk. He was “not happy” with the result. “But you shouldn’t conjure up false alliances that didn’t exist at that point.” About the vote as a whole, he said: “In the current times (…) it does not send the signal of European determination and strength that I would have liked.”
He later told World TV: “I very much regret that such a vote came about this way and that this result was achieved.” However, one must recognize that the situation in the European Parliament is different and majorities are often not clearly foreseeable. However, the vote is an occasion for discussion about how one should behave in the future “towards the forces on the far right”.
Banaszak also sees the EPP as being to blame, because the Greens had tried to find a solution in advance with the EPP and its leader Manfred Weber. “Our group has repeatedly offered Manfred Weber talks on this question. In the last few weeks and months, Manfred Weber has always consciously sought majorities with right-wing extremists. And at this point he refused to talk and said: “Eat or die!””
Banaszak, like his co-party leader Franziska Brantner, spoke out in favor of temporarily enacting the EU’s free trade agreement with the South American confederation Mercosur, despite appealing to the ECJ. The German Greens in the European Parliament also want to support this.
Nervousness in a super election year
For the Greens in Germany, all of this comes at an inopportune time in a year with five state elections – the first of which took place in March in, of all places, the car country of Baden-Württemberg, where the Greens are in danger of losing their only prime ministerial post.
Their top candidate there, Cem Özdemir, reacted accordingly sharply. “Obviously too many people still don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. European sovereignty must prove itself through concrete action, the time for cheap lip service is over,” he criticized on
Criticism also from the left-wing Green Party Trittin
Even the long-time Green Party member of the Bundestag, Jürgen Trittin, who, unlike Realo Özdemir, belongs to the left wing of the party, was horrified. “Without a compass,” he wrote on
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Economics Minister Mona Neubaur was also dissatisfied. “I regret that the European Parliament missed this opportunity,” said the Green politician. This also applies to the German Greens in the European Parliament.
Duration of the test unclear
The motion approved in the EU Parliament criticizes, among other things, the splitting of the agreement into two parts, only one of which requires ratification in the EU member states. It is said that this would bypass national parliaments. There are also fears that EU standards in consumer protection, the environment and animal welfare will be compromised.
It is unclear how long it will take for the judges of the European Court of Justice to present their assessment. There are no maximum deadlines.
Waiting for the ECJ opinion could significantly delay the ratification process of the agreement with the four Mercosur states Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. However, it could be applied provisionally beforehand if the EU Commission makes a corresponding decision. The agreement would create one of the world’s largest free trade zones with more than 700 million inhabitants, which can also be seen as a sign against US President Donald Trump’s protectionist tariff policy.
The Greens in particular are calling for a clear stance in dealing with Trump and emphasizing the need for new alliances. Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn (CDU) also recalled this on ARD Brennpunkt. “The Greens now have to answer a few questions. You can’t be as rhetorically activist as in the last few days and then vote like that when it becomes concrete. Completely unacceptable.”/hrz/DP/mis
