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pacific-alliance

A commission was established yesterday by the four countries of the Pacific Alliance, which includes Colombia, to draw up plans for an institution or “parliament” that will oversee the work of the organisation and formalise the agreements it makes through a legislative framework.

The President of the Colombian Senate Roy Barreras announced the plans at a meeting in Bogota along with congressional presidents of Chile, Peru and Mexico. They were meeting ahead of a key summit for the Alliance in Cali later this month which will see Colombia assume the rotating presidency of the fledgling organisation. Also joining the four at the summit on 23 May will be the eleven states with associate status, including Costa Rica and Panama who are seeking to become full members.

The Pacific Alliance is the newest addition to the cornucopia of international organisations have been formed by Latin American states, but at this stage looks set for a bright future due to the harmony that the governments of four member states have on key issues such as free trade and the movement of capital and people.

Barreras declared that:

“The presidents of the four congresses of the four nations have signed the agreement a parliamentary committee that will develop whole legislative framework agreements on free trade and movement of goods and services, capital and people that will be implemented once negotiations are signed.”

What form the institution that this commission comes up with is yet unclear, but the aim is to provide a mechanism through which legislation that the Alliance draws up can be formalised and made legal in the four countries.

Two points of particular interest include the question of who will form the staff of this institution or “parliament” (elected politicians or government nominated bureaucrats?), as well as whether it is intergovernmental – that is, where decisions are made by unanimous agreement between the governments of the four states – or supranational – where the member states delegate power upwards to a separate institution which makes decisions on its behalf.

At this stage, with the membership of the Alliance at only four and its policy scope somewhat narrow, it is likely that the former will be chosen as it creates the fewest issues in terms of democratic legitimacy and ensures the governments of each member state does not have its toes stepped on by a supranational institution.

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