Overview
- Signature does not activate the pact, with the trade text still requiring European Parliament approval and Mercosur ratifications, and the partnership text needing assent from all 27 EU national parliaments.
- A European Parliament vote is expected in May 2026, while a group of roughly 150–200 MEPs plans a Wednesday resolution to seek a European Court of Justice opinion that could suspend the process for months or years.
- The European Commission has pledged to wait for the Parliament’s vote and not apply the agreement provisionally beforehand.
- The accords would scrap more than 90% of tariffs between the blocs, yet studies project only marginal EU GDP gains of about 0.1%.
- Opposition remains pronounced in France, Ireland, Poland, Austria and Hungary, even as Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva casts the pact as a multilateral milestone creating the largest free-trade zone.