This article analyses the present situation of Mercosul, considering the main difficulties that paralyses its consolidation and advancement. The approach will look into the conflicts that separate its two biggest countries, Brazil and Argentina, in a context where the recent economic domestic crisis of its member States and the fragility of its institutional structure deepen the challenges to get ahead with the integration process. The starting point of the analysis is that the Mercosul is in crisis, a perception that generates different positions among its agents. On one side, there are business sectors that question the viability to follow a road which in their opinion is close and, on the other side, business sectors and specially some governments of the region that defend its consolidation and enlargement. This article reconstructs that debate, which opens the discussion about the institutional structure of Mercosul that ensures the forecast of its actions and practices and about the possibility of its achievement, and so stearing the development of the region and its member States.
Mercosul; Protection Mechanisms; Communitary Institutions; Integration Process