The outcome of Wednesday's vote in the European Parliament on referring the Mercosur agreement to the EU Court of Justice remains uncertain, as intense discussions are currently taking place within the political groups. French MEPs, in particular, are trying to convince their Romanian colleagues to vote in favour of such a decision, EP Vice-President Victor Negrescu said in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
"All the groups are divided and, obviously, we are trying to weigh all the arguments. However, I want to say very clearly that I will make an assessment based on the advantages for Romania. In this regard, within the PSD delegation in the European Parliament, we will make a decision based on these arguments and on what our colleagues in the Social-Democratic group are also proposing," Negrescu said during a briefing for Romanian journalists, specifying that, in the end, "we will make the decision together by tomorrow's vote.", agerpers reports.
He explained that it is impossible to assess what the outcome of the vote will be.
"There are many discussions taking place, solutions are being sought, and there are different perspectives. From the perspective of the Mercosur agreement, my feeling, based on discussions with fellow MEPs, is that most have doubts about the agreement and the way the decision-making process was conducted," said Victor Negrescu, who is Vice-President of the Party of European Socialists.
He stated that, in the current geopolitical context, many MEPs are questioning whether this vote could have geopolitical repercussions and whether Europe should strengthen its relations with Latin America.
"We do not know today what the outcome, which is why these intense discussions are taking place to clarify the situation. But at the end of the day we must not forget about the people, because (...) if we want a united Europe, if we want a strong Europe, we cannot do this if our states are led by extremists. If extremists manipulate and win the votes of the people, including farmers, the risk is that the unity we currently have will be undermine," Negrescu also said.
Asked whether he had personally held discussions with his French colleagues who launched a strong campaign on Tuesday, particularly on social media, to persuade Romanian MEPs to vote in favour of referring the Mercosur agreement to the CJEU, Negrescu replied that all the pro-European governments that voted against the agreement in the Council are very active.
"Four countries with pro-European governments voted against the Mercosur agreement - France, Poland, Austria and Ireland. I must say very clearly, the MEPs from these states, and others as well, have been extremely active in explaining why they voted against, requesting Romania's support, particularly France's. I also noticed during today that MEPs and ministers spoke publicly to explain, including to Romanians, why they opposed this agreement and why bilateral relations are important, especially in the context of the traditional cooperation on issues related to the European budget and agriculture. Some colleagues also expressed some surprise at Romania's vote, but I am convinced that Franco-Romanian bilateral relations can withstand any voting outcome," the EP Vice-President said.
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