{"id":242052,"date":"2026-01-13T06:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T06:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:57:07","slug":"why-ireland-should-have-voted-in-favour-of-mercosur-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242052\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ireland should have voted in favour of Mercosur \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hope some Irish MEPs change their minds and decide to support the Mercosur deal<\/a> when it comes to the upcoming vote in the European Parliament<\/a>. I hope some of my former Green colleagues<\/a> do the same, because what has happened in recent weeks should give us all cause to think anew. <\/p>\n

I understand the long-held concerns of my former colleagues about the possible weakening of environmental standards<\/a>, especially when the European Parliament itself just decided to defer the EU deforestation law that would help regulate some of the most sensitive trade flows. We are right to be concerned about the Amazon, but the truth is the biggest threat to that forest and to every living system is now from climate change<\/a> \u2013 and the biggest risk to our response to that challenge, comes from US<\/a> attempts to dismantle the international order. Because the trade deal between Europe and Latin America<\/a> runs counter to that US \u2018divide and conquer\u2019 strategy, we should give it our support. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s attack on climate action<\/a> and promotion of the fossil fuel alternative can only be described as the opening skirmishes in a new climate war. It is first and foremost a psychological war, where the other side is using disinformation, diplomatic bullying and the targeting of institutions to try to break our common will. <\/p>\n

It is also a trade war, between one vision where international rules support common goals with independent judicial systems resolving disputes, and an alternative whereby trade is carried out on an unfair transactional basis, where might is right and the environment is forgotten about in the rush for personal enrichment and short-term political gain. <\/p>\n

When D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann debated Mercosur on November 18th last there was not a single voice in favour of the agreement, let alone anyone calling for a vote. I doubt that would be the same today, for the world changed a few weeks later with the publication on December 5th of the US National Security Strategy. It made explicit what they wanted to do: have hegemony over the whole western hemisphere, undermine the European Union<\/a> and ignore climate change and human rights. <\/p>\n

In the last 10 days we have seen their abduction of the Venezuelan president<\/a>, the threatening of Nato<\/a> allies and their withdrawal from 30 international bodies<\/a>, turning that strategy into reality. Most shockingly we saw their state paramilitaries shooting their own protesting citizens<\/a> at point-blank range. You would fear for what comes next.<\/p>\n

It seems clear Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin had changed his own mind in recent weeks and decided we should support the Mercosur deal in the end. How could you be out in China talking about more open trade if you were going to vote against a big trade deal later the same week? How could you not feel hypocritical calling out others\u2019 standards when you have just got a derogation from Europe\u2019s own water pollution laws?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe the Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste had not discussed the change of strategy long before it all blew up last week, but one thing is clear, the European Commission was expecting us to change our position and was bitterly disappointed<\/a> when we did not do so. You can understand their frustration. Our Union is assailed on every front and we desperately need to show greater unity and strength, especially on the international stage. <\/p>\n

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen must have thought her close ally, the Taoiseach, who has a stable majority at home and will have the European presidency in six months\u2019 time, would be able to show such leadership and help build a narrative of European strength at this critical time. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ministers voice concern at US behaviour after Trump withdraws from international agenciesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the Healy-Rae brothers had a different idea. They had nothing to gain other than domestic bragging points, because everyone knew the Italians had changed their position and the deal was going through. But that populist gain was enough to warrant the threat of leaving Government, no doubt reassured by the likelihood that other Government back benchers would also join the fight, thus raising the cost for the Taoiseach, so he had to back down.<\/p>\n

We should worry about the damage that this does to our international reputation. It feeds a growing narrative that we like having our cake and eating it, and that while we talk about standing up for international law and co-operation, we are in fact more attentive to the big business interests based here. Neither of which do I believe to be true. <\/p>\n

It was a missed opportunity for showing leadership on the international stage. We could have said we have real misgivings about the deal but are willing to set them aside because we want to show Europe and Latin America standing together, especially in a week when they were both under US attack. <\/p>\n

I am terrified by what is happening in the States. A vote for Mercosur would be one good way of fighting back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I hope some Irish MEPs change their minds and decide to support the Mercosur deal when it comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2885,969,8935,11450,5148,1712,8934,61,60,6096,1843,43,3026,90],"class_list":["post-242052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-climate-change","tag-donald-trump","tag-eamon-ryan","tag-european-parliament","tag-european-union","tag-european-commission","tag-green-party","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mercosur","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242052","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=242052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}