Without agreement, direct elections for Parlasul are threatened
Parlasul will readdress the issue of the number of representatives per country
The composition of the Mercosul Parliament (Parlasul) will be brought to discussion again on next February 9th, in a meeting of its Governing Board. The president of Parlasul, Deputy Dr. Rosinha (PT-PR), affirmed that it is necessary to close an agreement on the number of representatives each member-country will have. He said that, if there is no agreement, the direct elections for its representatives in 2010 are threatened.
“Since we haven’t had that definition yet, I fear that we have no time to directly elect all representatives of Mercosul Parliament in 2010, and that the elections eventually keep being indirect, as they currently are”, said Dr. Rosinha.
Since two years ago, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay try to get to an agreement on the composition of the Parliament. Each one of the four countries has currently 18 representatives. Venezuela, which is joining Mercosul now, has 9 representatives.
Brazil’s proposal is that it has 75 representatives, Argentina, 33; Paraguay and Uruguay, 18 each; and Venezuela, 27, amounting to a total of 171 representatives.
Paraguay defends that the amount of 18 representatives by country be kept, in a total of 90, and is the only country of the bloc which has already chosen its representatives in direct elections. In February, Paraguay assumes the presidency of Parlasul, which is nowadays with Brazil.
Report - Marise Lugullo/Rádio Câmara
Editing - Pierre Triboli
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda