Mercosur Parliament
Encyclopedia
The Mercosur Parliament is the parliamentary institution of the Mercosur
Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...

 trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states of the bloc – Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Brazil, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 – and 9 from applying member Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. Associate members – Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Chile, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Ecuador and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 – may also hold seats on the Parliament, but with no voting powers.

History

The creation of the Mercosur Parliament traces back to a 2002 process of establishing bodies and procedures aimed at the institutionalization and political autonomy of the bloc.

During the XXVII Meeting of Mercosur Heads of State on December 17, 2004, at Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto
-History:Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village," the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule....

, Minas Gerais, the Common Market Council (CMC) instructed the Joint Parliamentary Commission (CPC) to write a protocol establishing the Mercosur Parliament, recommending its completion until the end of 2006. The CPC created the project in advance and on December 9, 2005, the Presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Constitutive Protocol of the Mercosur Parliament, creating the new body.

The first session of the Parliament should have been held before December 31, 2006, but it was only held on May 7, 2007, replacing the CPC. On June 2008, the MPs held their first parliamentary session outside the Mercosur headquarters in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

, on the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, where the XXXV Meeting of Mercosur Heads of State was also being held.

Members

MPs of the 1st Mercosur Parliament were chosen among nominated members of the national parliaments from the bloc. Their mandates expired on December 31, 2010.

Starting with the 2008 Paraguayan general elections
Paraguayan general election, 2008
The 2008 Paraguayan general election was held in Paraguay on April 20, 2008. This includes presidential, legislative, and local elections. The presidential election was won by opposition candidate Fernando Lugo of the Patriotic Alliance for Change, who defeated Blanca Ovelar of the long-ruling...

, members of the Parliament were directly elected
Direct election
Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the...

. It is expected that Brazilians will be the next to elect their MPs through direct vote, during the 2010 general elections
Brazilian general election, 2010
The first round of the Brazilian general election of 2010 was held on Sunday, October 3, 2010. The Presidency of the Republic, all 513 Chamber of Deputies seats and 54 out of 81 Federal Senate seats were contested in this election, along with governorships and state legislatures of all 26 states...

. Argentina representatives will be popularly elected on 2011 general elections
Argentine general election, 2011
Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on 23 October 2011. Incumbent president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner secured a second term in office after the Front for Victory won just over half of the seats in the National Congress....

. The first simultaneous election is expected to occur in 2015.

See also

  • Latin American Parliament
    Latin American Parliament
    The Latin American Parliament , is a regional, permanent organization composed by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a consultative assembly similar to the early European Parliament...

  • Bank of the South
  • United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
    United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
    A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is a proposed addition to the United Nations System that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election of United Nations parliament members by citizens worldwide...

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