The EPP group in the European Parliament is of the opinion that in the absence of free and credible elections in Venezuela, the opponent Juan Guaidó is “the only legitimate representative of a political institution” in the country.
In a draft resolution, a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE, the Christian Democrats are calling for the Council of the EU and Member States to recognise the “constitutional continuation of the 2015 legitimate National Assembly of Venezuela [as decided by the elections] and the legitimate interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó”.
At the start of January, the EU was of the opinion that the National Assembly as decided by the legislative elections of December 2020 was not legitimate (see EUROPE 12630/7). However, it did not go so far as to continue to consider the previous assembly as its legitimate interlocutor.
An internal source in the political group said that for them, the situation was similar to that in Belarus.
The EPP Group is calling for the immediate release of 350 political prisoners in Venezuela and condemns the closure of media outlets. It is also calling for the immediate adoption of new EU sanctions against the Maduro regime, as well as a ban in the EU on the trade of Venezuelan gold resulting from criminal extractions (‘blood gold’).
The European Parliament, which was due to debate Latin America and Venezuela as we went to press, will adopt a new joint resolution on the political and humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean country on Thursday 21 January, just a few days before the Foreign Affairs Council returns to the same issue.
See the draft resolution: http://bit.ly/3bWLG82 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)