The true history of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) started at the 3rd South American Presidential Summit in the city of Cuzco in Decembe...

The true history of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) started at the 3^rd South American Presidential Summit in the city of Cuzco in December 2004, where the South American Community of Nations was created with an agreement among the presidents of the main countries. A year later, in September 2005, in Brasilia, the Chief Executives of the South American Community of Nations set some priority objectives on the agenda, among which the political understanding of South American peoples and the social-economic integration of the region, the association of the member states of the MERCOSUR and of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and the necessity of integrating Surinam, Guyana and Chile to guarantee the complete union of the South American peoples. The 2^nd Summit of the South American Community of Nations that took place on 9^th December, 2006, finally set the fundamental path for the creation of the UNASUR, which took place in April 2007, during the 1^st South American Summit on Energy in Margarita Island.

The UNASUR was conceived, as stated in article 2 of its Constituent Treaty, to build “(…) through a participative and consenting way, a space of integration and union in the cultural, social, economic and political fields among its peoples, giving priority to the political dialogue, to social policies, education, energy, infrastructure and environment, among others, with the aim of eliminating socioeconomic inequality, promoting social inclusion and citizen participation, strengthening democracy and reducing asymmetries, strengthening the sovereignty and independence of its member States”.

To understand the true state of the process of regional integration in South America, we can compare it with the history of the constitution of the first regional union developed in the world, and the most advanced, i.e. that of Europe. In fact, just as the MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay) reminds us of the genesis of the European Coal and Steel Community, made up of six nations by the Treaty of Paris in 1951, the constitution of the UNASUR, which includes all the South American nations, reminds – for its dimensions and objectives – of the creation of the European Union. In addition, considering its scale, its functions of environmental control, defense of human rights, prevention of conflicts and general promotion of the different multilevel processes of Latin American regional unity, the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino), which also includes Mexico and the rest of the Central American countries, could be assimilated to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Thus, South America shows a superposition of different levels of integration that is – in some ways – similar to the one existing in Europe but, at the same time, more arduous since none of these initiatives has reached a complete development. The MERCOSUR and its Andean equivalent, the Andean Community of Nations, have created so far neither a true customs union nor a market of free commercial circulation. Their parliaments have not yet overcome the character of a consultative parliamentary assembly and its arbitration courts have no effective powers. The long conflict between Argentina and Uruguay on the installation of pulp mills on the East bank of the Uruguay River has showed the inability of the MERCOSUR Parliament to establish a common environmental legislation. Moreover, the fact that this conflict is currently supervised by the International Court of The Hague shows the non-existence of suitable and reliable regional tribunals. Of course, this is just one among uncountable examples.

Simultaneously, the irruptive apparition of the UNASUR constitutes a complex scenario. To figure it out, you must imagine that the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Union coexist temporarily. The dimension contemplated for UNASUR, which is scarcely suited to institutional developments and is too much centered on financing, infrastructure and defense, adds new doubts to the future of the regional integration. This is not accidental. In each and every case (meaning the MERCOSUR, the Andean Community of Nations, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino)), the South-American governments have demonstrated to be very fond of the rhetoric of unity but scarcely devoted to make it real. There is currently no common and strong political decision to drive it forward paying the price that is unavoidable in these cases, namely the abdication of the illusion of absolute national sovereignty. The result of this curious balance between strong claims on unity and integration, and minimal political resolution to make them real has been the pretension to throw in numerous initiatives and the evident incompetence to fulfill any of them.