Parliament on Thursday called on the Cyprus government and the European Commission to hold off on enforcing any aspect of the EU-Mercosur deal until the European Court of Justice has ruled on the matter.

In a resolution, the House plenum expressed “grave concern” about the trade deal, particularly its impact on the primary sector.

It noted that, prior to the Cyprus government voting in favour at the EU Council, no adequate or substantive consultation took place with the immediately affected stakeholders.

The resolution warns that the agreement could harm agricultural production and producers’ income.

It expressed “serious reservations” regarding the import of commodities “produced with non-equivalent environmental, heath-related and work-related standards”.

It went on to warn of the danger of unfair competition due to lower production costs in Mercosur countries.

Mercosur is the Spanish abbreviation for the Southern Common Market, a South American trade bloc.

On January 9 this year, a qualified majority of EU member states in the EU Council gave the green light to the agreement by a vote of 21 to 5, with Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland, and Poland voting against it, and Belgium abstaining.

A signing ceremony took place on January 17 in Paraguay.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the European and Mercosur parliaments.

On January 21 the European Parliament approved a measure by a vote of 334–324 to ask the European Court of Justice to rule on whether the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur can be applied before full ratification by all member states and whether its provisions restrict the EU’s ability to set environmental and consumer health policies – a move that could delay the deal by two years.