Strasbourg, 16/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption, last Thursday, of a resolution on the crisis in Venezuela (rejection by the national electoral council of 143,930 signatures collected by the opposition to hold a referendum to decide whether President Chavez should stay or go), the European Parliament has called upon the electoral council to accept, without delay, the recommendations presented by the observation mission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Carter Centre on the process of verifying the signatures. The Parliament points out that 2,436,083 signatures were needed to convene a referendum of this kind, and that this figure was hugely exceeded (see EUROPE of 6 March, p.4). Criticising the wave of violence caused by this case and which has caused death and injury, the Parliament has called for calm and moderation, stressing "the right of citizens to demonstrate, in a framework of constitutional legality". Lastly, noting that Venezuela welcomes many immigrants from countries of the EU, the Parliament called upon the European Commission to ensure, together with the OAS and the Carter Centre, that the agreements of 29 May 2003 between the Venezuelan government and democratic co-ordination are correctly applied, which, it stresses, should lead to a "peaceful, concerted, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution to the crisis".