Samenvatting

The purpose of this thesis is to document research conducted at The Hague University of Applied
Sciences on the topic of European and Latin American Integration, more precisely the UNASUR. The
central question to this research was:
Is further integration of the UNASUR possible when applying the three models of European
integration?
In order to answer this question, different research methods were chosen. Desk research was
conducted to build a basis of knowledge on the European Union and the UNASUR, as well as on the
three models of European integration. The three models chosen for this research were
Supranationalism, Intergovernmentalism and the Economic Integration Theory. As qualitative
research, an interview was conducted with an expert on Latin American politics, the ambassador
of Chile to the Hauge, Ms. M. T. Infante.
The research showed that there are several differences and similarities among the two Unions.
However, the differences seem to be predominant. The UNASUR is clearly not build on an economic
core, and does neither have court nor a parliament. Additionally, the European Union was created
to ensure peace among its members through economic dependence, which is not the case within
the UNASUR.
As to the models of integration, the UNASUR clearly follows the intergovernmental model and
keeps a rather loose bond between the Member States. Compared to the European Union, it has
almost no supranational traits, it rather masks tasks as supranational. However, after a closer
inspection, they turn out to be not supranational.
This led to the conclusion that further integration is rather unlikely, because states do not really
show the initiative to transfer sovereignty to a supranational body. However, the agreement is
already very intergovernmental, so there will rather not be an increase in the status of integration.
As long as the states are not willing to give in to Supranationalism, further integration is rather
unlikely.
It is recommended that further research is done on regional integration outside the European
Union, meaning other agreements in Latin America and more regions, as well as research on other
models of integration applied to the European Union and UNASUR.