In a statement, the party recalls that on Wednesday in Parliament, Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras stated that “we have been informed and the decision will be made by the European Court of Justice”, referring to the referral of the EU–Mercosur agreement for judicial review. However, at the same time, New Democracy MEPs voted against referring the agreement to the European Court of Justice.
According to the New Left, this discrepancy exposes the government and Mr Tsiaras personally. The party stresses that the Mercosur agreement raises serious concerns for the protection of producers and the rural economy, as well as for production, labour and environmental standards.
The announcement describes the situation as “hypocrisy without limits”, arguing that the government is saying one thing domestically while acting differently at the European level. This, it says, serves internal political consumption on the one hand, and on the other avoids upsetting powerful economic interests and government allies within the EU.
“If the government truly believed, as Mr Tsiaras claims, that the European Court of Justice should rule on the agreement, then its MEPs would have supported the referral,” the statement notes. “They did not. And this reveals the truth.”
The New Left concludes by denouncing what it calls political deception and calling on the government to provide clear answers. It also demands that Mr Tsiaras take political responsibility for his statements and publicly explain the divergence between his position and the actual vote of his party’s representatives in the European Parliament.
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