COVID-19: a state policy
The health emergency caused by COVID-19 has had an immediate negative impact on populations around the world. Its effects have been dramatic from a health point of view, but also from an economic point of view. According to the latest July report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the consequences of post-COVID-19 in the region, the effects will increase, growth will fall to less than 9,1% and Exports will reduce around 23%. It is also expected that the regional unemployment rate will be 13.5% at the end of this year. The global economy is going to have its biggest decline since World War II.
Given this scenario, Latin America may possibly find itself in a process of greater regional integration and not global; Proof of this is that the requirements that are being met are regional, and that the integrationist processes of the region have been preparing to move forward in this unprecedented situation. The fight against COVID-19 has become a State policy, and it is the rulers, presidents, heads of State and prime ministers themselves who have had to dedicate themselves to mitigating and controlling the effects of the pandemic to guarantee the public health of its citizens. In addition to, concomitantly creating economic measures to avoid a resounding fall.
COVID-19 and regional integration processes
On March 12 of this year the respective presidents of the member states issued, within the framework of the Central American Integration System (SICA), a joint declaration called “Central America united against Coronavirus”, mandating the preparation of a regional contingency plan which consists of five axes: health and risks, that seeks to complement national efforts against covid19; finance and commerce, which seeks to implement robust measures to face the imminent negative economic effects, but also to reactivate the economy as the pandemic grows; security, justice and migration, which seeks to incorporate biosafety measures in all these sectors to confront this virus, and two strategic axes such as strategic communication, which seeks to systematize and disseminate timely and articulated information to the population about what is being done to combat the pandemic; and that of management and cooperation, which seeks to obtain economic resources through the Inter-American Central Bank.
For its part, the Andean Community (CAN) approved a Decision to facilitate intra-community trade, promoting digitalization and procedures to accelerate the Andean Digital Agenda, and reducing costs, operational times and contact levels. In this context, the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), to help in this fight and continue promoting the business rounds in virtual format, created and installed on its portal a new computer tool to facilitate meetings between supplier and buyer companies that decided to register to trade health-related products based on a list that was prepared by the World Health Organization together with the World Customs Organization.
Furthermore, MERCOSUR, in addition to the measures taken on March 18 aimed at stopping the advance of the Coronavirus and minimizing its spread, approved a contribution of an additional US$ 16.000.000 for the plurinational project “Research, Education and Biotechnologies applied to Health ”, which will be used entirely for the coordinated fight against COVID-19. In the case of the European Union (EU), addressed four fundamental institutional priorities; limit the spread of the virus, guarantee the supply of medical equipment, promote research for the development of the vaccine and support employment, the company and the economy. Let us remember that at the beginning of the pandemic, the EU did not act jointly or with sufficient force to combat it.
Therefore, the pandemic is universal, but Latin American integration is regional. That is, the pandemic will be treated from our States and integration mechanisms. States are a higher-level political figure in the institutional evolution of humanity, not only because of the Peace of Westphalia, but because, currently, they are ultimately responsible for placing in the decision-making circuit those political representations that have been discussed. The State has been revalued with the pandemic.
Integration must be given that attention to reality, that relationship with society, that approach to issues and human beings so that integration stops being a political model and becomes a social model. That is the great challenge of the integration mechanisms of our version and others.
More integration
The pandemics per se They are destructive. Although it is assumed that, with restrictive measures, the blow can be alleviated so that economic recoveries are faster. This theory breaks the health vs economy dichotomy. For the most part, the integration processes in Latin America have some aid mechanism in health matters, a unique asset of international relations and particularly of the CAN, which since 1971 has had the Andean Health Organization-Hipolito Unanue Agreement (ORAS – CONHU), an institution that coordinates and supports the actions carried out by member countries, individually or collectively, to improve the health of their people. This year, ORAS-CONHU has organized four meetings at the ministerial level with officials from the member states specialized in the management of Covid-19: the four members of the CAN plus Venezuela and Chile.
The integration processes of the Latin American region are not exempt from a complex reality since long ago, focusing only on the pandemic or the post-pandemic perhaps makes us forget about the crises of the integration processes already suffered, or rather, the challenges that have been accompanying us for decades. Although it is undeniable that COVID-19 has accelerated some debates and has generated decision-making from those losses of consensus and political differences that some integration processes still have and must overcome.
In a more international context, organizations are also facing major challenges; some, such as the UN, the WHO, the WTO and the OAS, are under historic pressure. Let us remember that the international arena is also filled with the bid for international leadership of China and the US, key actors in the integration processes of Latin America that must reach a consensus on minimal issues such as 5G technology. Integration processes must play an increasingly flexible role, overcoming political obstacles, a central aspect in the advancement of Latin American integration. If we do not agree on strategic points, we will not be able to advance.
Conclusions
In the case of Mercosur, which is not supranational, insertion is considered through integration mechanisms. That is, modify the agenda to include food and health, promoting a common agricultural policy. Latin America is a producing region with the capacity to export. By creating an agricultural fund that helps achieve fair prices for producers and consumers in the region, surpluses can be reduced and eliminated. In this way, a much more competitive and sustainable agriculture will be achieved, and there will be the opportunity to invest in fields such as the agricultural economy.
Integration is not an artificial phenomenon, integration is the product of a geography combined with history, interests, rights and values.
Graduate in International Relations and master's degree in Integration Processes at the University of Buenos Aires.
