The decision taken by the European Commission to adopt the Mercosur trade agreement at its weekly College of Commissioners on Wednesday is the first formal step on the way for the deal to be approved by the EU.

The final legal text of the deal was circulated to member states at the start of July and getting the deal through the approval process will be central to the EU work programme over the coming months.

It will now move on to the agenda for the heads of state to consider in the Council of the EU meeting which will be chaired by Denmark, the current holders of the presidency of the council and who are strong advocates for the deal.

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It is understood that the deal will be presented as an “EU-only” deal which means that it would have to be only ratified by the EU institutions and individual EU member state approval not required.

Approval by the EU Council is by a qualified majority which means that no member state can veto the deal at that point.

While it is not absolutely certain that it will get the qualified majority necessary in the heads of state meeting, it is still expected to get through that stage.

So far, the Irish Government has not revealed what position it will adopt when the decision has to be made, while France has been the most public in expressing concerns and there is also disquiet in Italy and Poland. However, even if they all combined with Ireland, they still wouldn’t reach the threshold for a blocking minority as they represent less than 35% of total EU population.

If it makes it through the council, the deal will then go before the European Parliament where MEPs will have the final decision if it is an EU only trade deal.

In the parliament, the vote will be decided by simple majority. No Irish MEP has indicated that they will support the agreement as it is currently presented.