The European Parliament approved the recognition of opposition candidate Edmundo González as the elected president of Venezuela, promoted by the Popular Party and the far-right groups in the European Parliament. The liberal group (Renew Europe) did not participate in the vote as a symbolic gesture of the cordon sanitaire to the far right because the popular negotiated the resolution with ECR (the Fratelli d’Italia group, among others) and Patriots for Europe (including Vox, Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán…). The resolution was adopted with 309 votes in favor, 201 against and 12 abstentions. Nearly 200 parliamentarians did not participate in the vote.
“In a symbolic stance against the far-right Patriotas group in the European Parliament, Renew Europe MEPs will not vote on a text on the political situation in Venezuela, co-written by the Patriotas group. ‘Patriots’ does not take into account the interests of the Venezuelan opposition. Renew Europe will not participate in this far-right approach,” the liberals say in a statement illustrated with the face of the candidate and MEP of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, with a “Never!” written in capital letters on a red background.
In the negotiations on the resolutions of the European Parliament, an attempt is being made to seek a common position, especially from the “central groups” that support the majority of the European institutions (popular, socialist and liberal), but this time, the European People’s Party has placed the recognition of Edmundo González as a “red line”.
The socialists and liberals did not agree with this part of the text since no EU country has taken this step. The United States is not in this position either, which only Argentina, Ecuador and Javier Milei’s Panama have recognized. What these groups wanted was to leave it in the terms in which the EU has pronounced itself so far, demanding the publication of the minutes and emphasizing that, with those they have met, everything indicates that Edmundo González He was the winner of the elections of July 28.
The European People’s Party then chose to negotiate with the far-right forces and presented a joint resolution with Patriots for Europe (with the signature of Hermann Tertsch on behalf of the group that Vox shares with far-right formations such as those of Marine Le Pen or Viktor Orbán) and ECR (which includes Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia or the Polish ultranationalists of Law and Justice).
“The European Parliament recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela and also recognizes María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, as she was elected in the primaries of the Unitary Platform in 2023 with 92.35% of the votes,” reads the approved resolution. What was not advanced was the next point on which the Member States were asked to proceed with the recognition of González.
The vote coincided with the rise in decibels of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP against the government of Pedro Sánchez, which it accuses of being “involved in the coup that occurred in Venezuela” after the opposition leader said he was “forced” to sign a letter recognizing Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the July elections. Upon his arrival in Spain, Edmundo González was grateful: “I decided to leave Venezuela and settle in Spain, whose government I am deeply grateful for having welcomed and protected me at this time.”
During the debate, the Spanish PP once again used Venezuela as a weapon against Sánchez in the European Parliament. The spokesperson, Dolors Montserrat, accused the president of having “double standards” by calling the Venezuelan opponent to whom Spain granted political asylum a “hero” and “24 hours later he denies his status as president”. The PP MEP also took the opportunity to attack former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who played a key role in the negotiations that allowed González to leave office. Montserrat accused Zapatero of being a “whitewasher of dictators” and criticised him for remaining “silent and hidden in the face of the greatest fraud in the history of Venezuela”. “Who knows for what dark interests”, he suggested.
The PP’s criticism came on the same day that Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares received González. Sánchez himself also did so in Moncloa, shortly after the opposition candidate arrived in Madrid on a Spanish armed forces plane.
