ABSTRACT
The Mercosur countries face the challenge of consolidating the progress made in the integration process and deepening this process in the direction of building a true common market. There is an issue that, in this sense, takes on special importance on the negotiating agenda: the harmonization of microeconomic policies (industrial, commercial, technological and regional). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the way in which the harmonization of these policies was developed in the case of the European Community to extract useful lessons to face this process in Mercosur. An attempt is made to analyze how the conflicts generated around the following dilemmas were resolved in said experience: which policies should converge to ensure fair game rules in the regional market? What methodology (explicit harmonization or institutional competence) is the most adequate to ensure this convergence? What philosophy should guide the implementation of community microeconomic policies? What is the role of directly supranational institutions in the harmonization of policies and in the audit of national policies?
KEYWORDS:
Economic integration; industrial policy; policy coordination; Mercosur; European Union