The High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union (EU), Joseph Borrellsaid on Friday that the European Union does not recognize the “democratic legitimacy” of Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela, because “it is said that “He won the election without showing it.”.
At a press conference in Madrid, the head of European diplomacy recalled that the EU It cannot recognise governments or states because they constitute a power of the member states.but what it can do is “recognize the democratic legitimacy of those who hold power, territorial control, the army, the police…” This control, “in fact, belonged to Maduro before the elections and continues to do so after the elections.” We do not consider him as a person who can claim democratic legitimacy for the power he holds.” he added.
Borrel He thus responded to the proposal of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, which on Friday urged EU member states to recognise the opposition candidate. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the “legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela” and to do “everything possible” so that he can take office on 10 January 2025, with the presentation of a motion for a resolution which he hopes will be approved in the European Parliament.
There is scheduled to be a debate on Tuesday on the crisis in Venezuela in the European Parliament and a resolution will be voted on Thursday which calls on “the EU and its Member States to request a International arrest warrant against Nicolas Maduro for crimes against humanity for all the serious violations of human rights he has committed.” At the same time, calls for specific sanctions to be applied to Maduro as well as their entourage, their families and all those responsible for human rights violations in the country. In this regard, Borrell recalled that the recognitions “They may have symbolic value“, but “they don’t change reality.”
The head of European diplomacy declined to comment. Statements by the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robleswho described this Friday the regime of Nicolas Maduro and criticized the “limitation of fundamental rights” suffered by the anti-Chavista opposition. For the head of European diplomacy, the Venezuelan presidential elections of July 28 “showed that the democratic quality of Venezuela, which we already knew, has not improved.”
Asked about the possibility of meeting the opposition candidate Edmundo González, exiled in Madrid Since last Sunday, Borrel He showed willingness to meet him, although he recalled that he had been in contact with the anti-Chavista leader before he left Venezuela for Spain. “We invited him to come to the (EU) Foreign Affairs Council,” he reported. Borrelwithout details on González’s response or when it might take place. The dialogue with González that he will continue to maintain in the coming days, as well as with the opposition that continues in Venezuela and which “needs our support” because of the “repressive dynamics”“of the Maduro regime which “concerns us all” and from which we can only escape, according to him, with “international pressure and, in particular, what the Latin American countries, which are closer, can do.”
