European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on the Mercosur trade deal on Friday: “There is a clear interest that we ensure that the benefits of this important agreement apply as soon as possible.”

She said that while no decision has been taken yet on provisional implementation of the deal, she said: “A decision will be taken when one country of Mercosur or more countries of Mercosur have completed their [ratification] procedure and are basically ready. So, in short, we will be ready when they are ready.”

President of the European Council António Costa said: “The Council already decided last week not only to give the permission for the Commission to sign the Mercosur agreement, but also decided to go for the provisory application of the Mercosur agreement.

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“This is the Council position and I invite the Commission to use this decision from the Council and implement the provisory application of the Mercosur agreement.”

Provisional application

Costa and von der Leyen were speaking at a press conference on Friday in the wake of a meeting of EU leaders. Von der Leyen said that the question of provisional application was “raised by several leaders”.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted by a slim majority to refer the trade deal to the European Court of Justice for an opinion on the legality of the deal with regard to European treaties.

That move was expected to delay the implementation of the deal for as much as two years.

The ratification of the Mercosur agreement among South American nations could start as soon as next week, with Paraguay president Santiago Pina saying he would present the deal to congress next week, adding that “Paraguay will clearly be a major winner in the implementation of this agreement”.