MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian delegation disappointed with the Mercosur Parliament

The Senator who leads the Brazilian delegation to the Mercosur Parliament announced this week he was resigning his post to protest the “lack of consideration and disrespect” Brazilian ministers have shown towards the organization.

According to Senator Geraldo Mezquita Júnior four Brazilian ministers who have been invited to meet and discuss with the nine Deputies and nine Senators that make up the Mercosur Parliament Brazilian delegation, have "not even replied to our invitations". "Since last year we are extending invitations with no results", said Senator Mezquita Junior who belongs to one of the groups associated to the ruling coalition of President Lula da Silva. "It's a contradiction. President Lula da Silva has given his full support to Mercosur, promoting its strengthening but his ministers remain silent when they are invited to discuss issues with members of the Mercosur Parliament. And we are talking about issues of interest related to regional integration", he added. Ministers invited who never showed up are: Education, Fernando Haddad; Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende; Culture, Gilberto Gil and Sports, Orlando Silva. Invitations date back to August 2007. Senator Mezquita Júnior believes the Mercosur Parliament seated in Montevideo, Uruguay and launched in 2006 should by now be working "more intensely". He also pointed out that during the recent conflict between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, the "Parliament should have met from the very beginning but this did not happen".