Divulgação

 

Itaipu Hydroeletric Plant

The concept of energetic sovereignty, which has been raised by Paraguay during the debates on the Itaipu Treaty, will be discussed in the next meeting of the Committee on Infrastructure, Transportation, Energetic Resources, Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fishing at the Mercosul Parliament (Parlasul). That committee decided to include that subject in the agenda during a meeting, held on Monday(18), in Montevideo.

The Paraguayan congresspeople proposed to the committee a declaration bill, which provides for the “free circulation and availability of hydroelectric resources of the Parties, in conditions which better fit to them, for their full development”.

That bill, which has the unanimous support of the Paraguayan representation, also suggests the adjustment of the existing treaties – such as the one of Itaipu – to allow the free trade of electric power among Mercosul members.

Disputes
Brazilian Senator Inácio Arruda (PCdoB-CE) stressed that that issue also involves the situation of the hydroelectric power plants of Yaciretá (between Argentina and Paraguay) and Salto (between Argentina and Uruguay).

“We cannot envisage the dispute between Paraguay and Brazil as the only problem related to energetic integration in Mercosul”, said Arruda. The proposal for the performing of debates in the parliament, with the presence of the directors of those plants was also approved by the committee.

Itaipu
The inclusion of the declaration bill by the Paraguayan representation in the agenda is made in the midst of tense discussions between Paraguay and Brazil, regarding the Itaipu Treaty. That treaty obliges Paraguay to sell to Brazil all the energy it does not consume, and which is part of the amount it is entitled – half of the total produced by that hydroelectric power plant.

The Paraguayan government has been promoting a broad diplomatic offensive for what they call energetic sovereignty, that is, their right to sell to any other country their share on the energy from Itaipu they are entitled to.

During a recent visit to Brasília, the Paraguayan president, Fernando Lugo, insisted on that thesis with the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But the meeting ended without a practical solution.

From the newsroom/RX
With information from Agência Senado
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda