10/11/2023 (Agence Europe) – It is not appropriate for the European Union to lift sanctions against Venezuela, according to the EPP Group in the European Parliament, in a letter sent to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, on Friday 10 November. The Christian Democrats stress that the process of guaranteeing democratic presidential elections in the second half of 2024 will be “long and complex”. And the decision by the Supreme Court of Justice to suspend the effects of the primary elections between opposition candidates demonstrates “the fragility” of the Maduro regime’s commitment to a process of democratic transition, they add. Having won the primary elections at the end of October, María Corina Machado is not guaranteed to take part in the presidential elections (see EUROPE 13278/33). And the EPP Group notes the low number of political prisoners released to date. See the agreement sealed between the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan opposition in Barbados (in Spanish): https://aeur.eu/f/97y (MB)