MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Special Mercosur parliament committee to help decide on Paraguay/Venezuela controversy

“The idea is to find a solution favourable to Paraguay in Mercosur”, said Alfonso Gonzalez Nuñez

Mercosur parliament, Parlasur, resumed activities on Monday and the first thing it agreed on was to name a committee to help find a way out to the controversy between Paraguay and Venezuela. Although Venezuela holds the rotating chair of Mercosur, Paraguay refuses to acknowledge even its status as full member of the regional group.

The special ‘high level’ committee ‘to make proposals and present options’ was agreed with the attendance of representative from the original four full members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay with the absence of Venezuelan delegates.

Venezuela became full member in June 2012 following the suspension of Paraguay because of the removal of then president Fernando Lugo. He was impeached in the Paraguayan Senate for incompetence in the job, and ousted by an overwhelming vote but Mercosur considered it a ‘congressional coup’, did not recognize the new president and suspended Paraguay until fresh elections were held.

At the same time the three remaining members decided the incorporation of Venezuela as full member despite the fact that the Paraguayan Senate had not approved it, as indicates Mercosur charter.

Following elections Horacio Cartes took office as president in Paraguay last 15 August when the Mercosur suspension was lifted but in the meantime Venezuela had been named as president for the next six months. Paraguay has repeatedly stated it does not recognize Venezuela as full member of Mercosur and much less president of the group.

The special group now has until the next session of the Mercosur parliament scheduled for 11 November, when it should be presenting suggestions on the controversy.

“The idea is to find a solution favourable to Paraguay in Mercosur”, said Alfonso Gonzalez Nuñez head of the Paraguayan delegation in Parlasur, who described Paraguay’s suspension as ‘illegal and unfair’, adding that the country “will not participate in any Mercosur activity at executive level until a solution has been found to Asuncion’s claims”. 

“This requires a legal solution, but before that we need political solutions and that is why we made this proposal to that each Executive of each country can hold a meeting, elaborate on the suggestions and reach an inflexion point” added the Paraguayan delegate.

“We all agree there’s a new scenario and that we must dialogue to reach an understanding to overcome the inconvenience”.

Paraguay is demanding respect for the country’s rule of the law, international law, Mercosur charter and “Paraguayan people’s dignity’ because “we kept to the constitution and an overwhelming majority was satisfied with the removal of Lugo, which was done, I repeat, according to our constitutional system”

Other members of Parlasur said that the absence of Venezuelan delegates who were invited but did not attend can be interpreted as a political decision to facilitate the participation of Paraguay and grant a more comfortable environment for the lawmakers.

Another issue on the table and which was again postponed was the direct election of Mercosur parliament members and the transition period.

“The political situation in the different country members impedes direct elections, conditions are not ripe, so we have decided to postpone the current situation” said Newton Lima, president of the Brazilian delegation.

Parlasur sources estimate that at least until the 2019 electoral period, the current system will remain. At the moment each national parliament decides how many members will be attending Parlasur based on their congressional representation. So far only Paraguay elects Parlasur representatives directly.