I’m a bit spotty on what falls into which category so I might be wrong about this but I thought this was one of the areas of competence where singular countries can’t veto the whole thing and need specific number of votes instead?
Either way, I do hope someone gets grilled about this before the vote.
Sources are conflicting on this one, so i throw it up. EU Made Simple agrees with you, but BBC writes that specific countries need to accept the agreement. We need an expert in EU law (and this is a very high qualification…)
To be fair BBC’s point (or at least how you described it) doesn’t really conflict with my current understanding. Yes, the countries have to accept it to proceed BUT it can be rejected by having enough votes against (few countries representing specific number of citizens from what I’ve read). I’m just not sure it can be vetoed by a single country.
But yeah, it would be nice to have an actual confirmation. Especially since, as they mention in the source article, this agreement is not legally binding and serves a starting point to further negotiations.
It seems to be complicated (surprise, EU law is complicated). I found this article about agreements with Mercosur and Canada. In the latter case, it seems ratification is peneding - it should be ratified by all EU states. But most of the deal with Canada is in place and working, as it has been “provisionally applied”.
Between signing and ratifying the deal, parts of the agreement can be ‘provisionally applied’ – put into effect before ratification – if the Council decides to do so.
Provisional application usually only takes effect once the European Parliament has given its consent.
I’m a bit spotty on what falls into which category so I might be wrong about this but I thought this was one of the areas of competence where singular countries can’t veto the whole thing and need specific number of votes instead?
Either way, I do hope someone gets grilled about this before the vote.
Sources are conflicting on this one, so i throw it up. EU Made Simple agrees with you, but BBC writes that specific countries need to accept the agreement. We need an expert in EU law (and this is a very high qualification…)
To be fair BBC’s point (or at least how you described it) doesn’t really conflict with my current understanding. Yes, the countries have to accept it to proceed BUT it can be rejected by having enough votes against (few countries representing specific number of citizens from what I’ve read). I’m just not sure it can be vetoed by a single country.
But yeah, it would be nice to have an actual confirmation. Especially since, as they mention in the source article, this agreement is not legally binding and serves a starting point to further negotiations.
It seems to be complicated (surprise, EU law is complicated). I found this article about agreements with Mercosur and Canada. In the latter case, it seems ratification is peneding - it should be ratified by all EU states. But most of the deal with Canada is in place and working, as it has been “provisionally applied”.
https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2025/06/finding-a-ratification-solution-in-the-eu-mercosur-trade-deal
From European Comission’s website
https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/making-trade-policy_en
Appreciate the sources! Guess it’s as good time to dive in as any.