Mercosur

British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Mercosur and Regional Integration in South America
Author(s): John A. E. Vervaele
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Apr., 2005), pp. 387409
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Institute of International and
Comparative Law
Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3663254 .
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MERCOSURAND REGIONALINTEGRATIONIN SOUTH AMERICA'
JOHN AE VERVAELE*

I. INTRODUCTION

In the period between 1980 and 1995, both Europe and the US made huge
investments in Latin America. The process of democratization in Latin
America, especially in the countries markedby a traditionof military dictatorship,has reinforcedthe belief in political and economic stability.The economy hasdisplayedconsiderablegrowthand, partlystimulatedby the IMF and
the World Bank, several countriesare embarkingon privatizationon a grand
scale.2Political and economic cooperationbetween the countriesis takingthe
place of political and military rivalry. The time is ripe for a new attemptat
integrationon this continent.The overturesbetween Argentinaand Brazil led
to the establishmentofMercosur.Its economic (Mercosuris the fourthlargest
tradebloc in the world after the US, the EU, and Japan)and political importance have been recognized,especially by the EU. As early as 1996,3an Interinstitutional Cooperation Agreement was concluded, an interregional
frameworkagreement for cooperation between the EU Member States and
Mercosur States parties.4 Since then, the EU-Mercosur Bi-regionalNegotiationsCommittee(BNC)5has alreadyhad ten meetings at which topics
such as the free movement of goods, public procurement, investments,
services, e-commerce, and conflict resolution were discussed. The US has
t
never appreciated he attemptsat integrationin Latin America and has always

* Professorof Economic and FinancialCriminalLaw at the University of Utrecht;Professor
ofEuropeanCriminalLaw at the EuropeCollege in Bruges (J.Vervaele@law.uu.nl).
1 This article was written during a researchvisit (March-April2003) to the Universidadde
h
Buenos Aires (UBA). A Dutch versionof this contribution as been publishedin SEW,Tijdschrift
voor Europees en Economisch Recht, Dec 2003, 406-16. An abbreviatedversion was presented
at the conference 'La libre circulationdes personnes 10 ansapris "1993":Derniers d6veloppements et dernibresfrontibres',held in Liege 5-6 Dec 2003.
2 Between 1990 and 1992 Argentinaprivatizedits economy. The twenty Stateenterprises hat
t
were sold generated4 per cent of GNP and 21 per cent of fiscal revenues.
F
C
3 Interregional ramework ooperationAgreementbetween the EuropeanCommunityand its
Member States on the one part, and the SouthernCommon Marketand its Party States on the
other, OJ L 069, 19/03/1996 at 0004-0022 and L 112, 29/04/1999 at 0066.
4 R Domini-C and Molina del Pozo Acuerdo Mercosur-Unidn Europea (Ediciones Ciudad
ArgentinaBuenos Aires 1996).
5 See also Commission staff workingpaperconcerningthe establishmentof an interregional
association between the European Union and Mercosur, .
[ICLQvol 54, April 2005 pp 387-410]...