Sometimes MEPs vote along national lines, sometimes in step with their European political groupings. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will be in South America on Saturday to sign a trade deal with the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The inking of the deal by the commission president turns up the pressure on that European Parliament vote. Law and Justice, the hard-right nationalists who lead the opposition in Poland, and Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orban, will try to kill the trade deal in the European Parliament. Europe’s claim to be a serious geopolitical player would be seriously harmed by the parliament scuppering the Mercosur deal at the last hurdle.

Source: The Irish Times January 15, 2026 14:36 UTC