During last year's final session of the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur) held in December in Montevideo, Senator Marisa Serrano criticized the lack of clear rules that define the powers of the South American Union of Nations Constitutive Treaty (UNASUR), the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and Mercosur itself. She said the opposition's main concern is the possible weakening of Mercosur.

“It would be wrong to launch a new initiative ignoring the vast experience accumulated by the organizations working for years for integration, especially Mercosur and the Andean Community. Many functions now performed by the Mercosur will also be conducted in duplicate by UNASUR,” warned the Senator.

Supporting the proposal, former president of the Mercosur Parliament, Dr. Rosinha believes that the assertion that UNASUR would cause the weakening of Mercosur reveals ignorance about the roles of both organizations. "Unasur is not any kind of economic agreement. It proposes the integration of countries in South America with the objective of developing common policies, among which is the creation of a Security Council,” he said.

He says the new block is part of an essentially political integration agreement, with the possible participation of 12 countries. He recalls that Mercosur, in the political issue, it is restricted to four countries. “Who is involved in UNASUR economy has not read the proposal,” said the representative, citing recent cases of attempted coup in Ecuador and Bolivia that have been condemned by UNASUR.

Parliament of South America
Another point during the questioning session of Parlasur by Marisa Serrano was the article of the treaty for the creation of UNASUR establishing the creation of the Parliament of South America, based in Cochabamba, Bolivia. For her, the creation of this parliament should be subject to an additional protocol to the treaty. “I am not against UNASUR, but against the way the treaty is made, passing over all the work of decades of the Andean Community and Mercosur,” said Senator.
Dr. Rosinha points out that any integration requires a body of parliamentary debates, especially in case of a political integration, such as UNASUR.

The leader of the PPS, Gerald Thaddeus, sees no problem in approving the treaty creating the UNASUR. He defends one parliament throughout all of South America.

“The more we unite Latin America and the countries of South America, the better it would be, it is a major force. We have several parliaments in Latin America today: the Andean countries, Mercosur, and now, Unasur. I see that the ideal would be that all these parliaments came together. We must fight for this to occur. As in the European Union there is only one, our main goal would be, also in South America, only one parliament.”

Next step
Should the Brazilian government will soon send Congress the Additional Protocol to the Constitutive Treaty of UNASUR on the Commitment to Democracy, signed in November 2010, in the Summit of Georgetown. The additional protocol is the so-called “democratic clause” whereby member states strengthen their commitment to the promotion, protection and defense of democratic order in South America.

The UNASUR constituent treaty was approved at the Special Meeting of Heads of State and Government held in Brasilia on May 23, 2008.

The UNASUR is made up of the following institutional framework:
a) Council Heads of State and Government,
b) Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
c) Board of Delegates, and
d) Secretary-General.