MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela's Mercosur incorporation before Brazilian Congress

The Brazilian Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee begun this week to consider the official documents of Venezuela's incorporation to Mercosur, a long delayed process with still an arduous path ahead before its final approval and which has irritated relations between Caracas and Brasilia.

The committee announced it would be one of the first issues in the agenda to be considered. However even if the Committee votes positively the Incorporation Protocol, the document still has ahead a full reading in the 513 member Lower House and later in the 81 member Senate. According to Mercosur rules the Protocol to become effective must be ratified by the Legislative of all four full members. Argentina and Uruguay have completed that step but Congress members from Brazil and Paraguay still have to take a vote. In the event of a negative vote in any of the four congresses Venezuela could anyhow be accepted into Mercosur but with no voting power, according to Brazilian Senator Sergio Zambiasi. In a recent meeting of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva in the Amazon city of Manaus, both leaders ratified their administrations interest in Venezuela's incorporation to Mercosur and the Brazilian Executive commitment to the legislative approval. The Manaus display of political willingness seems to have left behind several incidents involving the Venezuelan president and Brazilian senators which questioned Mercosur leading economy interest in incorporating a fifth full member to the South American customs union. President Chavez went furious when the Brazilian Senate condemned the Venezuelan government decision not to renew the license of the country's longest established and main television station which was accused of promoting opposition to the Venezuelan president. Chavez called Brazilian Senators "Washington parrots" and "oligarchs" only interested in defending their interests and pockets. President Lula da Silva was forced to intervene in the exchange of recriminations demanding respect for the elected Senators and at the time President Chavez announced a deadline for Venezuela's incorporation to Mercosur. "We can live without Mercosurâ€Ã‚¦", he said. Time however and prudent silence seems to have been the way out to the incident, but a long legislative discussion still lies ahead.