On Thursday 25 October, MEPs again denounced the repeated violations of human rights in Venezuela. In the MEPs' view, these violations should be the subject of an investigation at the International Criminal Court (ICC) (see EUROPE 12124).
By adopting a draft resolution prepared by the EPP, ECR and ALDE Groups (268 votes in favour, 29 against and 26 abstentions), the European Parliament "fully supports the preliminary statement of the ICC on the extensive crimes and acts of repression perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime against its own citizens". It "urges the Union and the member states to join the initiative of the ICC state parties to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Venezuelan government in the territory of Venezuela and so to hold those responsible accountable".
For Dita Charanzová (ALDE, Czech Republic) the proof of the suffering of the Venezuelan people is enough for the EU to take new measures against the Maduro regime. "If we want our targeted sanctions to be effective, we need to extend these to include (Maduro) family members and the state owned oil company", she said. She added: "if we want to coordinate on the international level to solve the crisis, a first meaningful step is for the EU and its member states to back the call of other countries for the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity in Venezuela".
The previous day, the ambassadors of the member states to the EU (Coreper) decided to prolong the sanctions by a year against 18 Venezuelan figures close to the Maduro regime.
And at the end of a meeting with Colombia's President Iván Duque (see other article), European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro should be brought to justice. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)