RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Senate's Foreign Relations Committee approved on a 12-5 vote Venezuela's admission to Mercosur (the Common Market of the South) on Thursday.

    The admission, which had already been approved by Brazil's House of Representatives, will now await President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's final sanction.

    The subject has caused controversy in the committee: while the Brazilian government wants Venezuela to join Mercosur, the opposition is vehemently against it.

    Senator Tasso Jereissati from the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party said Venezuela should not be admitted to Mercosur because Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's attitudes violated the ideals of democracy on which the bloc was based.

    "We are opening a very dangerous precedent," he said.

    However, Senator Romero Juca from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, which is allied to the government, said the admittance was a matter between states, not politicians.

    "It is not the current Venezuelan government which is joining, but Venezuela, a neighboring country with which Brazil has always had good relations," the senator said.

    If Venezuela joins Mercosur, the bilateral trade will be boosted, which is good for both parties, Juca said.

    Venezuela is currently Brazil's fifth largest trade partner.

    Venezuela's membership in Mercosur, which is formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, needs the approval of the congresses of the bloc's four member countries.

    So far, Argentina and Uruguay have already given their approval. Paraguay will make a decision in 2010.