South American Parliament
| South American Parliament Parlamento Suramericano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Seats | 99 |
| Meeting place | |
| Villa sudamericana, Cochabamba | |
| Website | |
| unasursg.org | |
The South American Parliament is a proposed body of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). The Constitutive Treaty of Unasur does not list it with the other bodies, and does not give any details on its composition. Article 17 states that the Parliament would be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and its creation would be the subject of an additional protocol. A transitory article of the Treaty states how this protocol would be created: members will appoint a "Special Commission" composed of national and regional Members of Parliament who would meet in Cochabamba to draft the protocol to be considered at the Fourth Summit of Unasur leaders. The protocol would lay out how the Parliament would function and be composed.
During such summits the presidents hold meetings on energy, infrastructure, education and social policies, in addition to defining a transitional formula until the full force of the treaty, which must still be approved by legislatures. Foreign ministers are to meet every six months.
The Parliament will have ninety-nine parliamentarians. Each country will delegate up to five parliamentarians, more than the Andean parliament's members, of the Parliament of the Mercosur and of the parliaments of Guyana and Suriname. The presidents of the legislative bodies of each member country of the Unasur will also integrate it.
It will have a routine of consistent operation in two annual meetings: one in June and the second in November, although it will be able to convene in extraordinary form.
The Parliament of the Unasur will have commissions and subcommittees, presidencies and vice-presidencies, secretaries and subsecretaries.
All the pronouncements of the Parliament of the Unasur will be published through an official newspaper that will be created for such ends.
Their attributions and competitions are: to look after the democracy in the region, to establish cooperation relationships among the member countries, to emit declarations and recommendations, to foment the development of the representative democracy and to exercise the political control to the organs and institutions of Unasur.
The South American Parliament also has the task of leading the development and implementation, in coordination with the Bank of the South, of a new single currency that is to be in circulation throughout the region. Thus the Bank of the South, based in Venezuela and sub offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz, in conjunction with the General Secretariat, based in Quito, and now with the South American Parliament, based in Cochabamba, is to seek economic and social well being throughout the continent and to advance the goal of establishing a future "Ciudadano Americano" (American Citizen). Other agreements provide that citizens of the twelve countries will move within the UNASUR space with National Identity Document of each country to be recognized throughout the Union.
Construction
The Bolivian government has launched the start of construction of the Parliament building with an area of 200 hectares in the Valle Alto area. A specialized military academy located in the same area is to preserve the security of Parliament.
See also
- Mercosur Parliament
- Latin American Parliament
- Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico’s Independence
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