On Thursday 24 October, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola announced that the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament (CoP) had decided to award this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, as in 2017 (see EUROPE 11925/8), to representatives of the Venezuelan political opposition, María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia.
“In their quest for a fair, free and peaceful transition of power, they have fearlessly upheld values that millions of Venezuelans and the European Parliament hold so dear: justice, democracy and the Rule of law”, said Ms Metsola in the chamber.
Nominated by the EPP and ECR groups, the winners were part of a shortlist of three candidates that included Azerbaijani doctor and anti-corruption campaigner Gubad Ibadoghlu, nominated by the Greens/EFA group, and the Israeli women’s organisation Women Wage Peace and the Palestinian women’s organisation Women of the Sun, nominated by the S&D and Renew Europe groups (see EUROPE 13506/24).
On Tuesday, the PfE group, whose candidate, Elon Musk, had been eliminated, announced its support for the Venezuelan opposition. The common position of the Christian Democrats, the Conservatives and the far right therefore prevailed.
In September, the European Parliament recognised Mr González Urrutia, now in exile in Spain, as the “legitimate, democratically elected president of Venezuela”, in a resolution initially tabled by the EPP, ECR and PfE groups (see EUROPE 13486/8).
The three finalists were applauded at length by the MEPs. Referring to Mr Ibadoghlu’s worsening state of health, Ms Metsola called on the Azerbaijani authorities to drop the charges against him and lift his travel ban.
Congratulating the new winners in a press release, the French delegation of the S&D group regretted “the missed opportunity for the European Parliament to send a strong message of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East by awarding the Sakharov Prize to Israeli and Palestinian women committed to peace”.
The award ceremony for the 2024 Sakharov Prize will take place on Wednesday 18 December in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)