MOTION OF CENSURE ON THE COMMISSION
14.1.2026 - (2026/2002(INS)
Jordan Bardella, Kinga Gál, Anders Vistisen, Hermann Tertsch, Mieke Andriese, Harald Vilimsky, Paolo Borchia, António Tânger Corrêa, Gerolf Annemans, Jean‑Paul Garraud, Tamás Deutsch, Nikola Bartůšek, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Tom Vandendriessche, Anna Bryłka, Afroditi Latinopoulou, Vilis Krištopans, Mathilde Androuët, Marie‑Luce Brasier‑Clain, Marie Dauchy, Valérie Deloge, Mélanie Disdier, Anne‑Sophie Frigout, Angéline Furet, Catherine Griset, France Jamet, Virginie Joron, Fabrice Leggeri, Julien Leonardelli, Thierry Mariani, Aleksandar Nikolic, Philippe Olivier, Gilles Pennelle, Pascale Piera, Pierre Pimpie, Julie Rechagneux, André Rougé, Julien Sanchez, Pierre‑Romain Thionnet, Matthieu Valet, Alexandre Varaut, Séverine Werbrouck, Csaba Dömötör, Viktória Ferenc, Enikő Győri, András Gyürk, György Hölvényi, András László, Ernő Schaller‑Baross, Pál Szekeres, Annamária Vicsek, Susanna Ceccardi, Anna Maria Cisint, Aldo Patriciello, Silvia Sardone, Isabella Tovaglieri, Roberto Vannacci, Mireia Borrás Pabón, Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal, Jorge Martín Frías, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Rachel Blom, Ton Diepeveen, Marieke Ehlers, Sebastian Kruis, Auke Zijlstra, Elisabeth Dieringer, Roman Haider, Gerald Hauser, Georg Mayer, Petra Steger, Barbara Bonte, Tomasz Buczek, Tiago Moreira de Sá, Rody Tolassy, Tobiasz Bocheński, Patryk Jaki, Mariusz Kamiński, Marlena Maląg, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Jacek Ozdoba, Beata Szydło, Dominik Tarczyński, Maciej Wąsik, Anna Zalewska, Adrian‑George Axinia, Georgiana Teodorescu, Gheorghe Piperea, Şerban Dimitrie Sturdza, Claudiu‑Richard Târziu, Cristian Terheş, Geadis Geadi, Emmanouil Fragkos, Guillaume Peltier, Marion Maréchal, Nicolas Bay, Laurence Trochu, Bogdan Rzońca, Piotr Müller, Kosma Złotowski, Christine Anderson, Milan Mazurek, Alexander Jungbluth, Milan Uhrík, Ewa Zajączkowska‑Hernik, Zsuzsanna Borvendég, Sarah Knafo, Stanislav Stoyanov, Anja Arndt, Marcin Sypniewski
B10‑0063/2026
Motion of censure on the Commission by the European Parliament
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Article 17(8) of the Treaty on European Union, Article 234 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty,
– having regard to Rule 131 of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the free trade agreement with Mercosur countries has been under negotiation since 1999, and whereas current agricultural and market conditions differ fundamentally from those that existed 27 years ago; whereas European civil society’s demands concerning animal welfare, public health, environmental standards and the use of certain products in farming have evolved substantially since the launch of the negotiations;
B. whereas the Commission unilaterally proceeded to conclude the negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Agreement in December 2024, ignoring strong and repeated opposition from several national parliaments, from this Parliament and from European farmers and breeders;
C. whereas the Commission adopted proposals for Council decisions on the signature and conclusion of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and the interim Trade Agreement in September 2025; whereas the Commission circumvented the political and legal obstacles to ratification it would have faced, by splitting the agreement into two separate legal instruments in order to bypass national parliaments, overriding the legitimate concerns of Member States and reducing Parliament’s oversight of trade aspects to a mere formality;
D. whereas the EU-Mercosur Agreement threatens the future of the European agricultural sector by opening the market to products that do not comply with European environmental, social, animal welfare, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards, creating unfair competition that endangers the livelihoods of thousands of European farmers and breeders;
E. whereas European farmers and citizens have for years called for the inclusion of effective mirror clauses in order to guarantee the genuine reciprocity of standards; whereas in October 2025 the Commission proposed safeguard clauses for the EU-Mercosur Agreement; whereas these safeguards are not sufficient, as they do not allow for automatic intervention and do not provide for real reciprocity; whereas they amount to no more than a short-term, temporary mechanism;
F. whereas, with regard to the post‑2027 common agricultural policy, the recent proposals made by the Commission fail to address the fundamental concerns of European farmers and agricultural cooperatives; whereas the common agricultural policy remains fragmented within a single fund, thereby threatening farmers’ incomes and the core objectives enshrined in the Treaties; whereas the funds publicly promised by the President of the Commission to respond to farmers’ protests regarding the signing of the EU-Mercosur Agreement do not constitute additional funding, but merely an advance of existing resources in the next multiannual financial framework; whereas the Commission has notoriously failed to carry out any impact assessment on the cumulative effects of bilateral trade agreements;
G. whereas the Council adopted two decisions authorising the signature of the EU-Mercosur agreements on 9 January 2026 and did not decide to prevent the Commission from applying the trade agreement provisionally, without awaiting the position of Parliament; whereas this last-minute decision reneges on the Council’s commitment that the 27 Member States should wait for the Parliament’s consent before authorising the Commission to apply the agreement;
H. whereas the EU-Mercosur Agreement is contrary to the interests of the EU and its citizens as it imperils a wide range of agricultural sectors, exposing European farmers, workers and small and medium sized enterprises to unfair competition, asymmetric concessions and strategic dependencies that run counter to the EU’s declared objectives of resilience and autonomy;
1. Notes that the EU and the Commission are weaker today than ever due to the persistent failure of the President of the Commission to listen to our farmers and citizens and to respond to the EU’s most urgent challenges, including the decline of agriculture and rural areas, the deterioration of food security and the lack of transparency; notes, furthermore, that European agriculture and farmers have been directly undermined by the Commission’s repeated overstepping of competences conferred by the Treaties, as illustrated by the EU-Mercosur trade agreements;
2. Censures the Commission;
3 Instructs its President to forward this motion of censure to the President of the Council and the President of the Commission and to notify them of the result of the vote on it in plenary.