After a debate added to the agenda of the European Parliament's mini plenary session, MEPs will adopt, on Thursday 31 January, a ninth resolution on the political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
"The European Parliament cannot remain silent" while the situation on the ground has reached "a point of no return", said its President, Antonio Tajani, who had already asked President Maduro, whose second term has not been recognised by the European Union, to stand down (see EUROPE 12179). Speaking in Spanish, he referred to the exodus of Venezuelans, which is the worst migration crisis ever observed in Latin America.
A draft resolution submitted by the EPP Group calls on the EU and its Member States to recognise Mr Guaidó as "the only legitimate [Venezuelan] interim president until new elections can be called".
Within the S&D group, the tone is almost similar, but sets the condition for the early announcement of elections. A draft social democratic resolution calls for "free and credible" elections in Venezuela and "affirms that, in the absence of such an announcement, a request will be made to the EU and Member States to recognise Juan Guaidó as interim president of the country until the announcement of new elections".
At the end of last week, at the instigation of Dita Charanzová (ADLE, Czech Republic), about thirty MEPs from the EPP, ALDE and ECR groups, including Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium), called on the EEAS to recognise Mr Guaidó's legitimacy (see EUROPE 12180).
On Thursday, the European Foreign Ministers will also discuss the question of Mr Guaidó's legitimacy and will discuss the establishment of an international contact group to facilitate dialogue between the Maduro regime and the political opposition (see EUROPE 12182). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)