The European Parliament has voted to refer the EU–Mercosur agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which will now be asked to deliver a formal legal opinion. The decision was taken yesterday after MEPs approved a resolution tabled by lawmakers from several political families, among them Bulgarian Hristo Petrov, known as Itso Hazarta, from “We Continue the Change” and the Renew Europe group.

At the same time, Parliament rejected a separate resolution with nearly identical content that had been proposed mainly by members of the far-right Patriots for Europe group.

As a result, the trade pact, described as the largest agreement of its kind ever concluded by the EU and signed just four days ago, cannot move forward until the court issues its ruling. Such procedures typically last between a year and a half and two years.

The outcome came as a surprise. Only days earlier, expectations were that a majority of MEPs would oppose sending the deal to the Court of Justice. Over the past week, however, signals emerged that several deputies, particularly from Spain, had shifted their stance.

The court is expected to assess whether splitting the agreement into two separate instruments, an EU–Mercosur Partnership Agreement and an Interim Trade Agreement, complies with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Judges will also examine whether this structure could undermine the EU’s ability to safeguard the autonomy of its legal system.

The vote took place amid a second consecutive day of protests outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg. More than 3,000 farmers from across the EU gathered to oppose the agreement. When news broke that the deal had been sent to the court, demonstrators responded with applause and celebrations, embracing one another.

The resolution passed by an extremely narrow margin of just ten votes. In total, 334 MEPs voted in favour, 324 voted against, and 11 abstained. Seven of the votes supporting the referral came from Bulgarian representatives. Once the result was announced, applause was heard inside the plenary chamber as well.

With this decision, the European Parliament is now prevented from holding a final vote on the agreement until the Court of Justice has delivered its opinion. Attention has shifted to whether the European Commission might attempt to provisionally apply the deal while awaiting the ruling.

The move represents a significant setback for the Commission and for most EU member states. A total of 21 countries had backed the agreement with the Mercosur bloc. Five member states, France, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Ireland, opposed it, while Belgium chose to abstain.

An appeal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen failed to change the outcome. Addressing MEPs earlier in the day, she urged them to support the agreement with the South American trade bloc.

Following the vote, Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in Brussels that the Commission regretted the decision. He argued that the concerns raised in the resolution were unfounded, noting that the issues had already been examined in depth together with the European Parliament and addressed in previous trade agreements, particularly the EU’s deal with Chile. Gill added that the matter would likely be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the European Council scheduled for tomorrow.

German MEP Bernd Lange, chair of the Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, reacted sharply, describing the decision as “absolute irresponsibility” and calling it an “own goal”.

According to the roll-call vote, seven Bulgarian MEPs supported the resolution sending the agreement to the Court of Justice. These were Petar Volgin, Stanislav Stoyanov and Rada Laykova from “Revival” and the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, Ivaylo Valchev from There Is Such a People, Hristo Petrov-Itso Hazarta from We Continue the Change, and independents Elena Yoncheva and Taner Kabilov from DPS–New Beginning.

Itso Hazarta did not take part in the vote on the second resolution, which was ultimately rejected. Eva Maydell of GERB and the European People’s Party did not participate in either vote. The remaining nine Bulgarian MEPs voted against both resolutions.