Central American Parliament

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Central American Parliament
PARLACEN
 
 
Seat of the organs Guatemala City
Chair Nadia Lorena De León Torres
Member States
Official and working languages
  • Spanish
founding

1991

Upper organization

SICA

www.parlacen.int

The Central American Parliament ( Spanish parlamento centroamericano ) PARLACEN has officially existed since October 28, 1991 and has its headquarters in Guatemala City , the capital of Guatemala . Member states of this regional parliamentary association are Guatemala, Honduras , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Panama and the Dominican Republic . Mexico , Puerto Rico , Venezuela , Morocco and the Republic of China on Taiwan are represented as permanent observer states. In addition to the General Secretariat and the Central American Court of Justice , the Central American Parliament is another organ of the Central American Integration System (SICA).

history

On May 25, 1986, the presidents of the Central American states passed the Esquipulas Peace Agreement and thereby committed themselves to the following demand:

“It is necessary to develop and pursue activities that promote understanding and cooperation with institutional structures. These should make it possible to strengthen dialogue, common development, democracy and pluralism as fundamental elements for peace in the region and for the integration of Central America. That is why a Central America Parliament needs to be established. The members are freely elected by the people through general and direct elections, whereby the principle of political and participatory pluralism is to be adhered to. "

The treaty of the Central American Parliament was signed in October 1987 by the contracting states of Guatemala , Honduras , El Salvador , Nicaragua and Costa Rica . The Central American Parliament officially began its work on October 28, 1991.

Legal status and objectives

According to its legal nature, PARLACEN defines itself as a regional organ and the continuous political and democratic representation of the Central American integration system in order to ultimately promote Central American integration and peaceful coexistence within the framework of social security and welfare based on representative and participatory democracy, pluralism taking into account the right to integration, national legal provisions and international international law.

The Central America Parliament has the legal status of a body governed by international law.

Areas of competence and responsibilities

Areas of competence

  • Legislative proposals in the field of integration
  • Democratic control of integration
  • Initiatives to deepen and expand integration

Responsibilities

  • Initiator and guide in relation to the integration process and the greatest possible cooperation between the Central American countries.
  • Proposing draft treaties and agreements to be negotiated between the Central American states as well as commenting on the SICA proposals
  • Formation of commissions to promote peaceful coexistence and security in Central America
  • Promotion of the consolidation of the democratic, pluralistic and participatory system of government in the Central American states.
  • Contribute to strengthening the full validity of international law.
  • Assessment of the appointment and swearing-in of the executives of the SICA institutions
  • Review of budget expenditure de SICA

structure

Each member state is represented by 20 MPs in PARLACEN. The elections for the members of the PARLACEN are held at the same time as the government elections in the respective countries. The MPs are therefore in office for the respective national electoral term. In addition, both the former presidents and vice-presidents of the individual member states have a mandate in PARLACEN. This depends on the constitution of your own state.

The PARLACEN is composed of three organs: the plenary, the board and the secretariat. It thus represents a forum for political debate and exercises democratic and administrative control.

plenum

The plenary is the most important organ of the Central American Parliament and consists of all members. In addition, both the parliamentary committees and the individual parliamentary groups are involved in the tasks of the plenary. The tasks of the plenary are as follows:

  • Making recommendations on peace and security matters in Central America to the Assembly of Presidents
  • Assessment of draft contracts between the member states to satisfy the needs of the region
  • Annual election of the board
  • Approval of the budget
  • Discussion of the reports of the board of directors
  • Elaboration and adoption of internal ordinances and regulations
  • Formation of working committees
  • Discharge of the boards of the standing committees of the parliament
  • further tasks

Parliamentary Committees

The parliamentary committees support the plenary with research and compilation of information in order to enable the plenary to form a more differentiated and competent opinion on a topic. The relevant information is prepared in a report or expert opinion. The working committees are divided into permanent, extraordinary and special committees.

The standing committees monitor the work of the commissions. Each member state is represented by a maximum of two members, and the standing committees cannot exceed a total of 12 members.

In the current legislative period there are 13 standing commissions:

  • Political and Party Affairs Committee
  • Public Security, Peace and Human Rights Committee
  • Macroeconomics and Finance Committee
  • Committee on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
  • Committee on Integration, Trade and Economic Development
  • Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Environment and Natural Resources
  • Committee on Women, Children, Youth and Family
  • Committee for Urban Development and Citizen Participation
  • Health, Social Security, Population, Labor and Union Affairs Committee
  • Committee on Legal Affairs and Regional Institutions
  • Committee on International Relations and Migration Affairs
  • Tourism Committee
  • Committee on Indigenous Peoples and African Descendants
  • EUROLAT delegation

Extraordinary committees are set up in order to be able to support the process of integration appropriately. Special committees, on the other hand, address unexpected problems.

Factions

The members of the Central American Parliament are divided into different factions according to the political orientation of their party. These are established by adopting a separate statute and submitting it to the plenary. The published statutes show the ideological principles, the political orientation, the governing bodies and the corresponding regulations of the political group. A political group must consist of at least ten participants from at least two different countries.

The following parliamentary groups are currently in PARLACEN:

  • Democratic Alliance
  • Group of the Left
  • Integration Democratic Center
  • Democratic Integrationist Union

Board

According to the institutional structure of the Central American Parliament, the Board of Directors is its executive body. This means that the decisions of the plenary are submitted to this body and then a decision is made on them. The board is elected by the MPs for a year (on October 28th of each year) and consists of the president, five vice-presidents and six secretaries.

All decisions can be passed with a majority of seven votes. If there is a tie, the President's vote counts twice. The plenum can appeal against the decisions of the Board of Directors. The office of President is held by the member states on a rotation basis.

The tasks of the board are structured as follows:

  • Consideration and discussion of all proposals drawn up by the plenary
  • Informing the individual member states about topics relevant to them
  • Issuing the invitations to the ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the plenary
  • Draft budget for the Central American Parliament's operations
  • Implementation of the resolutions of the Central American Parliament
  • Preparation of an annual report on the performance of its functions and the results of its management and an accountability report on the budget for the plenary
  • Appointment of the secretariat and control of its work
  • Dealing with the economic and organizational matters of the Central American Parliament
  • Preparation of proposals for improving the internal structure for the plenary
  • Establishment of special committees
  • Proper filling of vacant positions resulting from the absence of MPs
  • Submission of proposals to the plenary for the appointment of the Central American Parliament's internal and external auditors
  • Formation of delegations for official missions
  • Development and adoption of your own internal rules
  • Further tasks that the constitutive contract or additional instruments can assign to the board

The board can expand its composition to the extended board. This consists of one representative from each parliamentary group.

office

The secretariat is responsible for the administrative management of PARLACEN. The areas of responsibility are divided between the Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs, the Secretariat for Administration and Finance and the Secretariat of the Executive Board.

The Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs deals with the decisions taken by PARLACEN and prepares reports on them for the plenary. It also provides technical support to the plenary and committees, and coordinates and chairs committee meetings.

The Secretariat for Administration and Finance oversees all branches, directorates, departments and administrative units, as well as the human and financial resources of the Central American Parliament. The secretariat of the board assists it in technical matters on any subject matter determined by the board.

Observer status

States, national and regional parliaments and international organizations can apply for observer status in the Central American Parliament. The prerequisite for this is the agreement of objectives and principles. The participation of the individual countries as observers in the PARLCEN is recorded in a separate contract party. There are special, permanent and original observers in the Central American Parliament.

The states of Mexico , Morocco , Venezuela , Puerto Rico and the Republic of China on Taiwan have permanent observer status . The aims and views of these states are compatible with those of PARLACEN.

The original observers enjoy their status due to the fact that their engagement enabled the installation and consolidation of the Central American Parliament. These include the European Parliament , the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO) and the Andean Parliament .

President of the PARLACEN

president Reign country
Roberto Carpio Nicolle Oct. 1991 – Oct. 1992 Guatemala
Ilsa Diaz Zelaya Oct. 1992 – Oct. 1993 Honduras
Jose Francisco Merino Lopez Oct. 1993 – Jul. 1994 El Salvador
Victor Augusto Vela Mena Jul. 1994-Oct. 1994 Guatemala
Roland Valenzuela Oyuela Oct. 1994 – Dec. 1995 Honduras
Raul Zaldívar Guzmán Dec. 1995 – Oct. 1996 Honduras
Ernesto Lima Mena Oct. 1996 – Oct. 1997 El Salvador
Marco Antonio Solares Pérez Oct. 1997 – Oct. 1998 Guatemala
Carlos Roberto Reina Oct. 1998 – Oct. 1999 Honduras
Jose Ernesto Somarriba Sosa Oct. 1999 – Oct. 2000 Nicaragua
Hugo Guiraud Gargano Oct. 2000 – Oct. 2001 Panama
Rodrigo Samayoa Rivas Oct. 2001 – Oct. 2002 El Salvador
Victor Augusto Vela Mena Oct. 2002 – Oct. 2003 Guatemala
Mario Facussé Handal Oct. 2003 – Oct. 2004 Honduras
Fabio Gadea Mantilla Oct. 2004 – Oct. 2005 Nicaragua
Julio Enrique Palacios Sambrano Oct. 2005 – Oct. 2006 Panama
Ciro Cruz Cepeda Pena Oct. 2006 – Oct. 2007 El Salvador
Julio Guillermo González Gamarra Oct. 2007 – Oct. 2008 Guatemala
Gloria Guadalupe Oquelí Solórzano de Macoto Oct. 2008 – Oct. 2009 Honduras
Jacinto José Suárez Espinoza Oct. 2009 – Oct. 2010 Nicaragua
Dorindo Jayan Cortez Marciaga Oct. 2010 – Oct. 2011 Panama
Manolo Pichardo Oct. 2011 – Oct. 2012 Dominican Republic
Leonel Búcaro Oct. 2012 – Oct. 2013 Salvador
Paula Rodríguez Oct. 2013 – Oct. 2014 Guatemala
Armando Bardales Oct. 2014 – Oct. 2015 Honduras
José Antonio Alvarado Correa Oct. 2015 – Oct. 2016 Nicaragua
Priscilla Weeden de Miró Oct. 2016 – Oct. 2017 Panama
Tony Raful Tejada Oct. 2017 – Oct. 2018 Dominican Republic
Irma Segunda Amaya Echeverría Oct. 2018-Oct. 2019 El Salvador
Juan Alfonso Fuentes Soria Oct. 2019-Jan. 2020 Guatemala
Nadia Lorena De León Torres Jan. 2020-Oct. 2020 Guatemala

Individual evidence

  • Tratado Constitutivo del Parlamento Centroamericano y Otras Instancias Políticas
  • Reglamento Interno del Parlamento Centroamericano

Web links