{"id":236122,"date":"2026-01-09T13:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236122\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:49:08","slug":"mercosur-vote-will-damage-irelands-influence-in-brussels-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236122\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercosur vote will damage Ireland\u2019s influence in Brussels \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> isn\u2019t happy, but that\u2019s a political hit the Government calculated was worth taking in opposing the EU<\/a>–Mercosur<\/a> trade deal. <\/p>\n

But the head of the European Commission is not the only one displeased at Ireland. <\/p>\n

What may have been deemed a necessity of Coalition politics at home was viewed in Brussels as a decision that did real damage to Ireland\u2019s sway in Europe, perhaps more than is appreciated in Dublin. <\/p>\n

The trade agreement was provisionally approved by EU states on Friday<\/a>, despite the opposition of Ireland, France and three other countries. <\/p>\n

The No vote will be remembered by other EU capitals, who regard the free trade deal with the South American bloc as vital to shoring up Europe\u2019s economic and geopolitical power, in an increasingly hostile world. <\/p>\n

Senior figures in the European Commission are disappointed the Government did not make the case for the economic upsides of the deal, particularly given Ireland\u2019s reputation as being pro free trade.<\/p>\n

There is a broad view among officials inside the EU\u2019s powerful executive arm that this one will dent Ireland\u2019s standing. It is understood von der Leyen privately expressed her annoyance at the Irish decision. <\/p>\n

The internal, fudgy politics of the EU work on the basis of compromise and give and take. <\/p>\n

Several EU officials in Brussels pointed to the extension of Ireland\u2019s nitrates derogation on fertiliser spreading late last year \u2013 seen as crucial for dairy farmers \u2013 as an example of leeway the commission gave Dublin. <\/p>\n

A win there doesn\u2019t bind you to walk through the voting lobby a certain way on another issue. However, voting against the broader European interest, for narrow domestic political reasons, is noted by others. <\/p>\n

Diplomats from other capitals still talk about the huge solidarity the union showed Ireland during Brexit. That kind of stuff is not a one-way street. <\/p>\n

The Mercosur agreement looked to have sufficient support to get over the line for several weeks. The prospects of blocking it faded once Italy seemed likely to swing in behind the deal. <\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin appeared to be laying the ground for a reluctant Irish vote in favour of the pact, given the thing was going to pass anyway. <\/p>\n

In the end, Ireland stayed put and opposed the deal, alongside France, Poland, Austria and Hungary. <\/p>\n

While some in Government recognise there will be a need to \u201cmake it up to Brussels\u201d, others say Ireland should not be shy in standing up and throwing its weight around a bit sometimes. <\/p>\n

One can puff one\u2019s chest out if your are a big player such as France and Germany. Italy too \u2013 maybe even Spain and Poland. <\/p>\n

But Ireland is not France. As a small member state, one has to be pretty tactical and calculated to manage what influence one has, or that will be quickly squandered. <\/p>\n

The State might be a net contributor to the EU budget, but Dublin shouldn\u2019t confuse that with a licence to do what it wants. <\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s opposition to Mercosur will be \u201cpretty damaging\u201d to its standing, one senior commission source said. Another experienced commission official said Ireland was perceived as \u201cplaying small politics\u201d and bowing to \u201cscaremongering\u201d on beef.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0EU governments approve landmark Mercosur trade dealOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

What is the Mercosur trade deal? <\/p>\n

The largest trade deal negotiated by the EU<\/a>, the agreement with four South American Mercosur<\/a> countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) would see import duties phased out on 91 per cent of EU goods. In return, these countries could sell goods to the EU with fewer restrictions. <\/p>\n

Who is for and against it? <\/p>\n

Fans of the deal say it offers access to new markets and helps combat US tariffs. In Ireland, France and Poland, farmers fear more beef coming into the EU. <\/p>\n

The programme for government codified Ireland\u2019s opposition to Mercosur, committing it to \u201cwork with like-minded EU countries\u201d in opposing the deal. <\/p>\n

The reality is the deal will not be catastrophic for beef farmers, as some quarters have warned. Indeed, it will open up a big new market for Irish businesses, including the agriculture sector. <\/p>\n

Running a well-managed EU presidency in the second half of this year will help Ireland to earn trust back. <\/p>\n

The past year has shown the United States cannot be relied upon as the partner it once was. So the EU has been rushing to make friends elsewhere. The Mercosur deal faltering would have hugely harmed Europe\u2019s ambitions to be seen as a serious global player. <\/p>\n

Ironically, there was probably a sigh of relief in Government upon hearing the Mercosur agreement had been approved. The fallout from European allies would have been massively magnified if Ireland\u2019s vote had helped kill it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ursula von der Leyen isn\u2019t happy, but that\u2019s a political hit the Government calculated was worth taking in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5148,1712,61,60,6096,43],"class_list":["post-236122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-european-union","tag-european-commission","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mercosur","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}