PM Orbán and arch-rival Péter Magyar unite against Mercosur free trade deal

As long as there is a nationally-minded government in Hungary, the Mercosur agreement will never be approved, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday. The opposition Tisza Party also protests against signing of Mercosur free trade agreement.

Everybody against Mercosur

In the video, the prime minister told farmers to hold on, adding that they had been deceived. Farmers are angry, he said, because not only had a decision been made against them, they had also been “taken for fools“.

Orbán noted that an international trade agreement had to be approved by national parliaments. “It is obvious that in Hungary, as long as there is nationally-minded government, the Mercosur agreement will never be approved,” he said.

He added that European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen outwitted national parliaments by creating an auxiliary rule, which says that the signed agreement can be applied provisionally in the meantime.

“That’s why farmers are angry, so it’s not just about the economic issues of Mercosur, not just about the future of agriculture, but also about the fact that farmers have been cheated, national parliaments are being bypassed, and decisions are being made that are detrimental to farmers,” Orbán said, adding that this is why they are now demonstrating in Strasbourg and demanding Ursula von der Leyen’s resignation. “They are right,” he said.

Tisza Party protests against signing of Mercosur free trade agreement

The Tisza Party protests against the signing of the Mercosur free trade agreement, the opposition party’s leader said at a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday, broadcast on the party’s social media page.

Magyar said that at the beginning of 2025, the Orban government “fully backed the Mercosur agreement,” then remained silent for six months, and has done nothing since negotiations on the agreement began in September, even though it had the opportunity to gather allies and try to form a “blocking minority” in the European Commission against the agreement, which he said was “harmful and dangerous for Hungary”.

He said the Tisza Party “strongly opposed” the agreement last February and called on the government to stand by Hungarian farmers, help them, and try to prevent the European Union from accepting the agreement in its current form.

He added that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen probably signed the agreement this week without the authorisation of the European Parliament, in violation of EU law.

On Wednesday, MEPs will vote on whether to sue the European Commission in the European Court of Justice for signing the agreement in violation of EU law. The political groups are divided on the issue, with a significant portion of the European People’s Party not supporting the motion, but Tisza, “going against the position of the People’s Party,” will support it, Magyar said.

Head of Tisza’s agricultural policy working group Szabolcs Bóna said that Hungarian agriculture was prepared for the Mercosur agreement, having “degenerated into a mere producer of raw materials” in recent decades. The agreement facilitates the import of grain crops, protein crops, ethanol, poultry meat, beef cattle, and beef, which account for a large part of Hungarian agricultural exports, he added.

20 years of negotiations

Von der Leyen noted that the EU had signed the long-awaited trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc during her visit to Paraguay over the weekend, creating what she described as the world’s largest free trade zone, covering more than 700 million consumers and over 20% of global GDP, the Turkish Anadolu news agency wrote.

The deal, she said, sends a message that Europe is choosing “fair trade over tariffs, partnership over isolation, and sustainability over exploitation.”

The agreement was approved by EU member states earlier this month, after more than 20 years of negotiations and delays in December caused by farmer protests and opposition from France, Ireland, Hungary, and Poland. The free trade agreement only needed qualified majority.

Under the deal, tariffs on agricultural products, including beef, poultry, dairy, sugar and ethanol, will be reduced for Mercosur countries, while European industries will gain increased access to South American markets.

She added that the EU has recently concluded agreements with Mexico, Indonesia and Switzerland, and is advancing talks with Australia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.