Mercosur Parliament
| Mercosur Parliament Parlamento del Mercosur Parlamento do Mercosul | |
|---|---|
| 1st Mercosur Parliament | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
President | |
1st Vice President | |
2nd Vice President | |
3rd Vice President | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 122 MPs |
Political groups |
 Venezuela (23) |
| Elections | |
Last election | 2013 Paraguayan general elections (Nationwide) |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Website | |
| parlamentodelmercosur.org | |
The Mercosur Parliament (Spanish: Parlamento del Mercosur, Portuguese: Parlamento do Mercosul) is the parliamentary institution of the Mercosur trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states of the bloc – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – and 9 from applying member Venezuela. Associate members – Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – 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, 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, 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, members of the Parliament were directly elected. It is expected that Brazilians will be the next to elect their MPs through direct vote, during the 2010 general elections. Argentina representatives will be popularly elected on 2011 general elections. The first simultaneous election is expected to occur in 2015.
See also
- Latin American Parliament
- South American Parliament (proposed)
- Bank of the South
- United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
References
External links
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