Virtually no process of regional integration has been safe from the criticism of allegedly suffering from either democratic deficit, institutional deficit or both. These deficits, the argument goes, are the consequence of scarce accountability and the lack of transparency in regional decision-making. Different regional blocs have attempted in a variety of ways to confront one or both of these deficits, the most visible of which is the creation and empowerment of a regional parliament. This paper presents a comparative analysis of five of these institutions in Europe and Latin America - i.e. the European Parliament, the Latin American Parliament, the Central American Parliament, the Andean Parliament, and the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Mercosur - with the aim of understanding their impact on regional representation, decision-making and accountability. The conclusions pinpoint five plausible factors in accounting for the differences found across the Atlantic divide.
Supranational Parliaments; Regional Integration; Latin American Integration; European Integration
