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Uruguay’s Lower House approves Unasur; Senate votes next Tuesday

Friday, November 26th 2010 - 02:18 UTC
Full article 5 comments
Senator Carlos Baraibar, the broader the support, the better Senator Carlos Baraibar, the broader the support, the better

Uruguay’s Lower House approved on Thursday the Unasur (Union of South American Nations) constitution protocol sending a strong message of support to the group’s summit in Guyana.

And although the prize is incomplete because the Senate will vote on it next Tuesday instead of Thursday as scheduled originally, the Uruguayan ratification will become the ninth vote making Unasur formally and legally effective.

The Unasur document was approved by 61 votes in 67 present (out of a total of 99 representatives). The Uruguayan ruling coalition lawmakers supported the initiative and so did some members of the two main opposition parties.

“The Senate had approved the initiative in the last legislature and the Chamber of Deputies was not able to do so because of the national elections (October 2009)” said Ruben Martinez Huelmo, member of the ruling coalition block.

The Senate was scheduled to vote the matter “urgently” following the Lower House approval but on request from members of the opposition it was postponed until next Tuesday.

“We believe that the broader political support to the Unasur initiative the better so we decided on request from the opposition, who are willing to approve it, to give them more time to study the documents”, said Carlos Baraibar, Senator from the ruling coalition.

Once the Uruguayan congress two houses approve the initiative and the Executive ratifies the decision, Unasur will have the necessary nine votes out of the twelve members, making the group legally effective.

The Unasur constitution document was signed in Brasilia, May 2008 by all presidents of South America. So far Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela have completed all the formal steps.

The four countries in process are Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Colombia is also quite advanced since one of the two houses has voted on the initiative and the second is expected in coming days.
 

Categories: Politics, Latin America, Uruguay.

Top Comments

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  • Think

    “That's one small step for Uruguay, one giant leap for Southamerica”

    Nov 26th, 2010 - 02:31 am 0
  • Redhoyt

    From the Great God Wiki - “ ... The Union of South American Nations ..... is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modeled on the European Union ....... The group announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019........”

    Really? And that's good?

    Have you seen how well the EU is operating these days ?

    Aint cutting and pasting easy !!

    :-)

    Nov 26th, 2010 - 05:53 am 0
  • Think

    Without the EU, Europe would surely be in a much deeper crisis and quite probably on its way to a War……………..as sooooo many times before in its history.

    This political project is working perfectly for us so far……

    Thanks for your concern :-)

    Nov 26th, 2010 - 06:37 am 0
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