In a joint draft resolution dated Tuesday 17 September, the European Parliament’s Christian Democrat (EPP), Conservative (ECR) and far-right (Patriots for Europe) groups call for Venezuelan political opponent Edmundo González, the unsuccessful candidate in July’s controversial presidential elections, to be recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
The three groups are also calling for the reinstatement of the sanctions against those in the National Electoral Council (see EUROPE 13409/39), and for the European Union’s sanctions against the Maduro regime to be extended to include the Venezuelan President and Jorge Rodríguez, the President of the National Assembly.
To see the draft resolution from the EPP, ECR and PfE groups: https://aeur.eu/f/dgq
While agreeing with the EPP Group on the lack of democracy in Venezuela, Spanish Socialist Javi López deplored the fact that part of the right is exploiting the Venezuelan crisis and allying itself with the far right to further national political interests. In Spain, the Socialist government refuses to recognise the legitimacy of Mr González, who continues to claim victory, while accepting him as a political refugee. How many EPP governments in the EU take the same political line?, asked Mr López.
According to Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spanish), for the right, the conservatives and the far right in the European Parliament to find extenuating circumstances for the Maduro regime, when it “stole” the election, is to oppose democracy. Carlo Fidanza (ECR, Italian) condemned “the complicit silence of the left” vis-à-vis Mr Maduro’s “narco-socialist dictatorship”.
On Wednesday, the EPP and ECR groups announced that Mr González was their nominee for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (see separate news item), with the EPP including opponent María Machado in its nomination.
On the left, Diana Riba i Giner (Greens/EFA, Spanish) criticised the right for castigating Mr Maduro, but had nothing to say about former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro or Argentine President Javier Milei. In a sign of change or simply a dissenting voice within The Left Group, which is generally indulgent towards the Maduro regime, Finland’s Merja Kyllönen said that “the Venezuelan government cannot be considered legitimate” until it publishes the results of the polling stations. She expressed her alarm at the political repression and human rights violations in the Caribbean country.
The EU does not recognise the legitimacy of Venezuela’s July presidential elections (see EUROPE 13471/4). It is up to each Member State to recognise the legitimacy of the winner of an election in a third country. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)