The sequence that is opening up in Venezuela, triggered by the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US special forces, creates an opportunity for a peaceful “democratic transition”, led by Venezuelans and which “must include” the opponents Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, declared Annitta Hipper, spokeswoman for the European External Action Service (EEAS), on Monday 5 January.
Two days earlier, US President Donald Trump, who was manoeuvring to unseat the Venezuelan autocrat, had said that Ms Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, was unfit to take power in Caracas. Since then, he has maintained that the United States will take the lead in Venezuela, showing more interest in the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves than any real concern for the restoration of democracy in the Caribbean country.
On Saturday 3 January, the Venezuelan Supreme Court appointed Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez interim President of Venezuela for a period of three months, renewable once by the National Parliament. After this period, the Constitution requires new elections to be held. Ms Rodríguez said she was prepared to cooperate with Washington in accordance with international law.
The European Union did not recognise the results of the Venezuelan presidential elections of July 2024 which returned Nicólas Maduro to power (see EUROPE 13471/4). It has always called for the will of the Venezuelan people to be respected, but has not recognised Mr González, who was the Venezuelan opposition candidate, as the legitimate president because Ms Machado was declared ineligible by the regime.
Supported by a majority of the EPP, ECR and PfE groups, the European Parliament has taken this step (see EUROPE 13486/8) and has also called for sanctions directly targeting Mr Maduro and his inner circle (see EUROPE 13564/18).
The EU united except for Hungary. On the evening of Sunday 4 January, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, who spoke by telephone with her US counterpart Marco Rubio, issued a statement supported by all Member States except Hungary.
In this declaration, the EU recalls that “under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be upheld”, with the members of the UN Security Council having “a particular responsibility to uphold those principles”.
The twenty-six signatory countries stress the importance of the Venezuelan people’s right to self-determination. “Respecting the will of the Venezuelan people remains the only way for Venezuela to restore democracy and resolve the current crisis”, they say, demanding that all political prisoners be “unconditionally released”.
To see the High Representative’s statement: https://aeur.eu/f/k64
On Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán justified his country’s withdrawal, saying that it was “not necessary” to have a common foreign policy on this issue. The American intervention in Venezuela constitutes “a new language (...) that the world will speak of in the future”, he said, quoted by AFP. In his view, “with Venezuela, the United States is now capable of controlling 40-50% of the world’s oil reserves”, a development that could lead to “a more favourable global energy situation for Hungary”.
The best ally of the Trump administration in the EU, the Orbán government has also maintained friendly relations with the Russian-backed Maduro regime.
At the other end of the spectrum, Spanish diplomacy, backed by its Latin American network, is taking action and once again offering to mediate in the Venezuelan crisis.
Spain is the only Member State to have signed, along with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, a declaration expressing “our profound concern and firmly reject the military actions undertaken unilaterally in Venezuelan territory”. The signatories “express our concern regarding any attempt at governmental control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources, which would be incompatible with international law and would threaten the political, economic, and social stability of the region".
To see the declaration by the six countries: https://aeur.eu/f/k61
Reappearance of the left/right divide. Within European political families, no one is venturing to officially regret the deposed Venezuelan president, even though the unilateral intervention by the United States raises many questions about its legitimacy. The positions expressed on social networks oscillate between, on the right of the political spectrum, the hope of a new page for Venezuela, if Venezuelans are able to choose their destiny, and, on the left of the spectrum, a more or less marked criticism of the interventionism of the United States in what Washington considers to be its zone of influence.
For the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, “Venezuela will be free” after years of oppression. The European Parliament has always advocated respect for international law and the will of the Venezuelan people, she added.
The EPP Group will be calling for a debate on the Venezuelan crisis at the plenary session starting on Monday 19 January in Strasbourg.
For its president, Germany’s Manfred Weber, Mr Maduro’s removal from office is “good news”. The Chair of the Spanish Christian Democrat delegation, Dolors Montserrat, called for the results of the July 2024 presidential elections “won by Mr González” to be respected.
The President of the Conservative Group, Italy’s Nicola Procaccini, called for an orderly democratic transition and the restoration of constitutional order in Venezuela. For his compatriot Carlo Fidanza, “it is striking to hear calls for international law from the red-green left, alongside Russia, Iran and Cuba, after years of silence on a criminal system that tortured opponents, rigged elections and starved its own people”.
Attempting to summarise the situation, the Chair of the Renew Europe group, Valérie Hayer of France, said: “Venezuela deserves a democratic future that dictator Nicolás Maduro denied them. However, the military intervention of the Trump administration in Venezuela contravenes the foundations of international law. (...) Such an incursion must never become a blueprint”.
Speaking on behalf of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Sweden’s Stefan Löfven said that “the use of military force against a sovereign country without a UN mandate - with the clear aim of overthrowing the regime - jeopardises the very principles on which the world was rebuilt after the Second World War”. He described the cautious stance of some European leaders as “deeply disconcerting”, while praising the “firm” statements made by the Socialist Prime Ministers of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, particularly on Greenland (see EUROPE 13779/5), and of Spain, Pedro Sánchez.
Finally, on the radical left, the delegation from the 5-Star Movement denounced the United States’ aggression, “once again”, against a sovereign state. “Peace cannot be achieved with an imperialist policy, and it is time for the EU to stop using shameful double standards that weaken it in the eyes of the international community”, it stressed. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)