The European Parliament supports Guaidó as Interim President of Venezuela
The European Parliament adopted today a resolution on the situation of Venezuela with a big majority recognising Juan Guaidó, elected president of the National Assembly, as the legitimate interim president of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution. Now it’s the turn of the High Representative of the EU and the EU Member States to recognise him too, until new free, transparent and credible presidential elections can be called. ALDE also condemns fierce repression, violence and killings, including the detention of several journalists covering the situation in Venezuela and calls for their immediate release.
MEP Javier Nart, rapporteur on the file and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs said:
“ We just voted in favour of recognising the legality in Venezuela, represented only by the President of the Assembly, Juan Guaidó. While Pedro Sánchez keeps asking for elections to be called by an illegitimate president that cannot call for them; in the Socialist Party of this chamber common sense has prevailed. It is satisfying to see that the main Spanish parties and the groups where we are integrated have voted in solidarity with Venezuela”.
MEP Beatriz Becerra, Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and member of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly said:
“500 million EU citizens, via their representatives in the European Parliament, have already recognised Juan Guaidó as Interim President of Venezuela. The High Representative and EU Member States must now join. Europe must protect democratic forces and accompany them through the peaceful transition they are fighting for. We must do whatever is possible to stop the criminal violence of Maduro’s regime, which is even targeting kids. Venezuelans see the EU as an ally and we can’t let them down”.
MEP Dita Charanzová, member of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly said:
“I welcome the decision of the European Parliament today to recognise Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim President of Venezuela. Juan Guaidó has a democratic mandate, Nicolas Maduro does not. But this is not enough- we also need the European Union to have a strong and united position. I therefore call on the High Representative Mogherini and the Member States to swiftly and explicitly recognize Guaidó as President in Venezuela, and to extend the current targeted sanctions further to make these more effective by also including close family members of those sanctioned and to also target the state-owned oil firm PDVSA. The EU need must put as much pressure as possible on the illegitimate regime of Maduro to resolve the crisis before it escalates further.”
The EP joins a long list of countries who already supported Guaidó like the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom and most of the Latinamerican states.
Francisco Sucre (second, left), Chair of the Standing Committee for Foreign Policy, Sovereignty and Integration of the National Assembly of Venezuela, met yesterday the ALDE Group President Guy Verhofstadt with the support of MEPs Javier Nart and Maite Pagazaurtundúa, to discuss the current situation of his country.
More info: david.vidal@europarl.europa.eu
