The European Parliament has once again condemned the Venezuela presidency’s “usurpation” by Nicolás Maduro and has declared political opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain, “the legitimate winner of [Venezuela’s] presidential elections” in July 2024, in a resolution initiated by the EPP, ECR and Renew Europe groups (see EUROPE 13563/4). It adopted the resolution on Thursday 23 January (374 votes in favour, 53 against and 163 abstentions).
It should be noted that, lacking the EPP group’s support, MEPs rejected (148 votes in favour, 285 against, 23 abstentions) an amendment from the PfE group recognising Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate president, something Parliament had already done last September (see EUROPE 13486/8).
Parliament is calling for the EU sanctions to be extended “to Nicolás Maduro, his inner circle and their families”, including President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez and Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López.
On the other hand, an amendment from the PfE group was adopted expressing concern at the arrest in mid-November 2024 of Italian Alberto Trentini, a volunteer for the NGO Handicap International, whose family has had no news of him since that date.
At the beginning of January, the EU sanctioned a further fifteen dignitaries of the Venezuelan regime, in response to Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration for a new presidential term which it considers illegitimate (see EUROPE 13555/11).
See the European Parliament resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/f67 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)