The Brazilian Delegation in Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur) approved on Wednesday a resolution extending the mandate of the current Brazilian representatives in Parlasur over one month. The measure was necessary to keep the country one month without representatives in the institution, considering that the Resolution 1/2007 of the National Congress determines the end of the Mercosur parliamentary mandates in 31 December 2010. The extension must be approved by National Congress.

"The resolution is important because it fills the gap of 31 days in January, in which Brazil was likely to be unrepresented in the Mercosur Parliament; further, the next parliament will only take on in February," said the representative president, Mr. José Paulo Tóffano.

The current president of Parlasur, senator Aloízio Mercadante, states that the mandate extension does not change the number of seats now. "Today we established 18 representatives up to 31 January 2011. Next year may be 37, with the beginning of next Legislature within a period that lawmakers wield their power. In Brazil, the Legislature lasts four years. Further, in 2012 we will perform direct election," he explains.

Elections The next meeting of officers of Parlasur is scheduled for 28 and 29 this month, in Montevideo (Uruguay), when the proposal should be presented to consolidate the timetable for elections to Parliament, after agreement among the four countries in the bloc (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay). A special meeting is scheduled to discuss the rules and deadlines to institute the new chairs.
The situation in Paraguay and Uruguay is set, and they are entitled to 18 seats. For the president of Parlasur, Senator Aloízio Mercadante, Brazil and Argentina have set the electoral agenda to avoid conflicts which would invalidate the elections to the regional parliament.
Brazil is expected to elect their 37 representatives in the elections of October 2012, while Argentina is planning their 26 parliamentary elections in late 2011.

Credit to central banks
At the meeting, the Brazilian delegation approved the Bill 7330/10 of the Executive Branch, which opens credit line of 40 million (about R$ 68 million) for the Central Bank (CB) in Uruguay, and $ 120 million (R$ 200 million) for the Argentine CB for operations of the Payment System in Local Currency (PSLC) between Brazil and these countries.
The document expose that the granting of this credit line, known as contingency margin, should be reciprocal. The aim is to prevent operational problems such as errors in the values transmitted, technology failures or lack of payment concerning the daily compensation results.

When operating PSLC, companies from participating countries carry out trade transactions without the use of third currency, e.g. dollar. The importer pays the purchase price in the currency of their (own) country, and the exporter receives the value converted into their local currency.