COHA Report: MERCOSUR Presidential Summit Concludes With High Hopes

Although MERCOSUR was originally established as a customs union, integration has predictably progressed to include significant political elements. Even at the outset, the four members acknowledged that the creation of a common market would also necessitate political integration for dispute settlement and increased stable relations among member countries. Furthermore, a stated goal of MERCOSUR is to increase the equality and well-being of all member states’ citizens, an ambition that can only be taken on with some level of political convergence. However, in the fifteen years since the treaty of Asunción was signed, little has been done to either harmonize the foreign policies of MERCOSUR members or integrate the member states socially, and thus the bloc remains primarily a customs union with few effective levels of political integration. Regarding this stagnation, during last week’s summit, presidents discussed the growing importance of political and social integration in addition to the strengthening of the common market. Particularly notable was the rhetoric employed during the meeting that centered on the future of MERCOSUR as a social, political and economic union. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was most vocal in this point, telling the Associated Press that, “MERCOSUR has to take up the banner of the struggle against social inequalities, against poverty, against misery, against unemployment, the struggle to satisfy the needs of the people.” Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, whose country is an associate member of the trading bloc, added that “MERCOSUR should be a solution for the victims of an economic policy that has never resolved the problems of our families,” clearly alluding to largely failed U.S. development strategies based on the Washington Consensus that have been employed in Latin America since the early 1990s. Continued at: http://www.coha.org/2006/07/25/coha-report-mercosur-presidential-summit-concludes-with-high-hopes/ also - Interview w/ Florida Gov Jeb Bush- March 14th 2006 COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS http://www.americas-society.org/coa/events/2006events/Registration%20Forms2006/Jeb%20Bush%20Interview-FINAL.pdf Hope these Links work Read this at: http://www.coha.org/2006/07/25/coha-report-mercosur-presidential-summit-concludes-with-high-hopes/

Note: http://www.coha.org/200... http://www.americas-soc... http://www.coha.org/200...