Green Party co-chair Franziska Brantner appeared visibly uneasy at a Berlin press conference this week. She had planned to discuss international flashpoints — Greenland, Ukraine and US President Donald Trump — but reporters kept returning to the EU’s trade deal with Mercosur and the role her party played in blocking its ratification.
Mercosur, the EU’s long-awaited trade pact with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, was presented as a welcome counterpoint to rising nationalism: a rules-based boost to transatlantic trade. After negotiations that stretched over two decades, the agreement’s entry into force was delayed again last week in the European Parliament — with a majority of German Green MEPs voting to send it for further review, despite Brantner’s last-minute plea to approve it.
Eight of the Green Party’s 11 German MEPs voted to refer the already-negotiated Mercosur deal to the European Court of Justice for another look; they later conceded the move was a mistake. Many economists warn the legal review could push implementation out by years. Brantner, however, pointed out a possible shortcut: once any Mercosur country ratifies the pact, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has the authority to implement parts of it on the EU side.
The fallout for the Greens goes beyond delay. In the European Parliament the Green MEPs ended up voting alongside right-wing populists and extremists to send the deal to the court — a troubling turn given the party’s previous insistence on a strict “firewall” against cooperating with the far right. Last year the Greens had criticised Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU for working with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag and argued MPs must avoid any collaboration with right-wing populists; critics say that principle was ignored in Brussels.
Environmental concerns have long driven Green scepticism about Mercosur. The deal would create one of the world’s largest free-trade zones, with Europe exporting cars and chemicals and Mercosur countries supplying agricultural products and raw materials. Greens feared the pact could weaken environmental standards or put German farmers at a competitive disadvantage against producers from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.
The episode has amplified criticism of the party leadership in Berlin for poor coordination with their MEPs in Brussels. To limit damage, the Greens have emphasised their support for other trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and vowed better teamwork on future deals. Co-leader Felix Banaszak has promised that the Greens in the European Parliament would not again derail a trade agreement like the India pact.
This article was originally written in German.
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