The new European Commission has been formally approved in full by the European Parliament, with Irish MEPs split on how they voted.
The new commission under President Ursula von der Leyen was approved in a full (plenary) sitting of the parliament in a vote today (Wednesday, November 27) with 370 to 282, with 36 abstentions.
Irish MEPs from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil voted to approve the the new commission, while Irish MEPs associated with the Parliament’s left and socialist groupings (including the two Sinn Féin MEPs and independent Luke Ming Flanagan) voted against the new commission.
Notably, two MEPs who are part of the same group as Fianna Fáil MEPs (The Renew Europe group), abstained from the vote, specifically citing the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement as the reason.
These two MEPs are independent Michael McNamara, and Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly.
The newly-approved commission includes a new European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, who takes over in that role from Janusz Wojciechowski.
The new EU agriculture chief, a native of Luxembourg, will be in office during the development, and implementation, of a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027.
Earlier, this month, Agriland was in Brussels as Hansen was having his confirmation hearing in a committee meeting of MEPs.
MEPs we spoke to expressed confidence with Hansen as President von der Leyen’s pick as agriculture commissioner.
However, rapidly evolving developments on the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement have given cause for disquiet for some MEPs representing farming and rural voters.
One of Ireland’s abstaining MEPs in today’s vote, McNamara, said today that he has written to President von der Leyen to rule out ‘splitting’ the trade deal so that the trade-related aspects wouldn’t require unanimous approval from member states, with member states only having a say on less-pressing aspects of the deal.
McNamara said: “The question is whether the deal will be split to see the trade aspect of the deal fall solely under the EU’s jurisdiction in order to bypass member states’ democratically elected parliaments.”
McNamara said in the European Parliament: “Farmers have been asked to farm sustainably over the past number of years to guarantee a high-quality of product and of animal welfare; and to reduce carbon emissions and the use of herbicides and pesticides.
“All of that is threatened by the Mercosur agreement.”
McNamara warned that splitting the deal in this way could see the next Dáil, and other member states’ parliaments, deprived of the power to determine whether the deal would come into effect in their respective states.
“Because there is opposition to the Mercosur agreement in particular member states, the deal will be split so that the remainder of the deal will be left to be ratified by member states at some time in the future, if at all. That is profoundly undemocratic and is unacceptable in my view,” the MEP added.
Mullooly, meanwhile, said that his decision to abstain was based on his “serious concerns about the lack of clear commitment and transparency from both the incoming commission and the Taoiseach (Simon Harris) regarding the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement”.
“Despite repeated efforts to seek assurance on this critical issue, no satisfactory responses have been provided.”
Like McNamara, Mullooly also expressed misgivings about the potential splitting of the deal, saying: “There are indications that the final approval process could bypass national parliaments entirely, denying member states like Ireland a meaningful say in a decision that could have profound consequences for our farming communities and rural economy.
The Independent Ireland MEP said that he has asked the commission for commitments that the deal would not be signed off on until national parliaments had a chance to scrutinise it, but that no commitments were received.
“Without these guarantees, I cannot support a commission that may proceed with a trade deal so damaging to Ireland’s interests,” Mullooly said.
“I cannot in good conscience vote in favour of a new commission without clear commitments that the Mercosur deal will not go ahead without full democratic scrutiny and protections for Irish farmers,” he added.