{"id":2255,"date":"2025-04-17T18:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mariawalsh.eu\/?p=2255"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T15:44:41","slug":"fact-check-my-position-on-eu-mercosur-trade-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mariawalsh.eu\/ga\/fact-check-my-position-on-eu-mercosur-trade-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: My Position on EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>I am aware of a social media post circulating with fake news in relation to my position on the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement. In this statement, I am re-establishing my position and I hope this clarifies the matter.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During April\u2019s plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs voted &#8211; as we do annually &#8211; on a report concerning the EU\u2019s common foreign and security policy, not on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement as implied. Within this report, there were a number of amendments tabled in relation to Mercosur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite contradictory statements circulating, <strong>I voted in favour of Amendment 1<\/strong> which highlighted my concern regarding the potential negative impact of the Agreement on EU sustainability and food safety standards.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amendment also called on the Parliament to examine whether the agreement meets EU standards and complies with the reciprocity principle. While I originally voted against this amendment in error, I ensured that my voting record was immediately corrected to &#8220;in favour&#8221; of Amendment 1 on the same day. This is common practice in the European Parliament and the publicly available record of votes on the Parliament website clearly notes my final vote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have made my opposition to the Mercosur deal in its current format very clear. My position aligns with that of the Irish Government. It is a position that is very well known within the EPP and the European Parliament, as well as most importantly by my constituents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mercosur agreement is of great significance to the Irish economy, agriculture sector, public health and climate. This populist and ill-informed approach and sharing of fake news is of no value to constituents, who deserve better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have any further questions I am happy to answer them via my office, details of which you can find on this <a href=\"https:\/\/mariawalsh.eu\/contact\/\">web page<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am aware of a social media post circulating with fake news in relation to my position on the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement. In this statement, I am re-establishing my position and I hope this clarifies the matter.&nbsp; During April\u2019s plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs voted &#8211; as we do annually &#8211; on a report concerning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[39,101],"class_list":["post-2255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-agriculture","tag-mercosur-trade-agreement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FACT CHECK: My Position on EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement | Maria 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