Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 43: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will clarify the nature of free trade agreement with Colombia; and if it is a mixed agreement or not. [2341/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union has exclusive competence for the EU's Common Commercial Policy. In international trade negotiations, the Commission negotiates on behalf of the Union, on the basis of a mandate that it receives from the Council.

On 1 March 2010, negotiations on a Multiparty Trade Agreement between the EU and two member states of the Andean Community – Colombia and Peru - concluded in Brussels. The Agreement was initialled by the parties in April 2011.

The Commission is of the view that the Agreement is an EU only one. On that basis, it has submitted for approval by the Council draft proposals on the signature and the conclusion of the Agreement by the EU, as opposed to the EU and its Member States. The issue of the designation of the Agreement as one in which the Union has exclusive competence, or one which involves mixed competence requiring approval and ratification by all 27 Member States, will be determined by the Council in the light of its analysis of the Agreement's content and the legal advice that it receives. The Government takes the view that the Agreement covers matters of mixed competence. The Council will take a position on this in the coming months.

In any event, the approval of the European Parliament will be required before the Agreement can be ratified by the EU.