The Guarani – a language spoken by around 10,000,000 people, living in regions of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil – will be one of the official languages of Mercosul. That is the objective of a bill on a declaration approved on Tuesday (28) by the Parliament of that bloc. The bill contains a recommendation to the Council of the Common Market, for Guarani to be considered as an operational language, along with Spanish and Portuguese.

The bill had already received a favorable review by the Committee on Education, Culture, Science, Technology and Sports, which was presented during that session by Senator Marisa Serrano (PSDB-MS). She informed that Guarani is quite spoken in the border region of her state, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Paraguay.

The author of that bill, the Paraguayan congressman Hector Lacognata, said that its approval is the result of nearly 15 years of “claims and struggles of uncountable public and private organizations of that region”. According to him, the parliament’s decision also means the recognition of the linguistic and cultural diversity of Mercosul”, such as an “act of historical justice”.

Cooperatives

The Act on Cooperatives of Mercosul was also approved by the parliament. That bill has the objective to harmonize the existing legislations on that subject in each country of the bloc, and public policies for the cooperative sector, in addition to complementing productive activities and promoting the freedom of circulation and the installation of cooperatives in the region.

From the Newsroom, with information of Agência Senado
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda