Mercosul - Latin-America Union

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1990s, integration between countries has increased at supranational level in view of social and economic progress, with major economic blocs making decisions to go beyond national borders. Facing this new reality, South American States also joined in this type of integration, creating the Mercosul (Southern Common Market), as the main economic bloc in Latin America which comprises Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, which came into operation in 1991, after the Treaty of Asunción, featuring an economic bloc whose main principle was free trade between members. Mercosul has approximately 300 million people and generates a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of $ 1.1 trillion and aims to strengthen economic and commercial spaces, seeking a commercial growth for intensified economic rise of its members States, as it follows a global trend, most likely as the European Union. This paper will highlight how the Mercosul member States tried to recreate in Latin America a similar integration concept as in Europe, via commercial cooperation leading to economical and, possibly, political integration, aiming thus at regional development, scientific and productive integration and institutional development.