The Mercosur Parliament (, ), known also as Parlasur, or Parlasul, is the parliamentary institution of the

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states of the bloc –

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

– and 9 from applying member

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Associate members –

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

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

– may also hold seats in 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 17 December 2004, at

Ouro Preto Ouro Preto (, ), formerly Vila Rica (, ), is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The city, a former Brazilian Gold Rush, colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains, was designated a ...

, 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 9 December 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 31 December 2006, but it was only held on 7 May 2007, replacing the CPC. In June 2008, the MPs held their first parliamentary session outside the Mercosur headquarters in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, on the city of

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

, where the XXXV Meeting of Mercosur Heads of State was also being held.

Members

The representatives of the 1st Mercosur Parliament were chosen among nominated members of the national parliaments from the bloc. Their mandates expired on 31 December 2010. Starting with the 2008 Paraguayan general elections, members of the Parliament were directly elected. It was expected that Brazilians would be the next to elect their representatives through direct vote, during the Brazilian 2010 general elections, and Argentines, in the Argentine 2011 general elections, but both elections were not held. The first simultaneous election was expected to occur in 2015.

Adriana Pichardo Adriana Pichardo Bello is a Venezuelan politician. She is a deputy of the National Assembly, representing District 4 of Aragua state as a member of Popular Will. She is also part of the Citizenship and Human Rights commission of Mercosur The ...

is the incumbent deputy of the Parliament. Now, the deadline for every Mercosur member to hold direct elections was delayed to 2020.

References

*Protocolo Constitutivo del Parlamento del Mercosur (2005)
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External links

* {{Coords, 34.914094057516, S, 56.17103916929798, W, display=title

Parlasur The Mercosur Parliament (, ), known also as Parlasur, or Parlasul, 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 &nd ...

Buildings and structures in Montevideo Parque Rodó, Montevideo Supranational legislatures 2007 establishments in Uruguay

History

Members

See also

References

External links