The European Parliament will debate the crisis in Venezuela on Tuesday with Edmundo González’s recognition on the table

September 15 () –

The European Parliament will hold a debate on Tuesday focused on the crisis in Venezuela with the presence of the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, and a resolution at stake that will demonstrate the appetite of the parliamentary groups to redouble pressure on Caracas with the possible recognition of the opposition candidate Edmundo González as president-elect.

The veteran diplomat, who has been in refuge in Spain since last Sunday and who the EU itself admits “would be the presidential candidate who wins the elections by a large majority”, will be the protagonist of a debate on the crisis in Venezuela following the presidential elections of last July 28, in which the groups will unanimously denounce the lack of transparency in the elections and the repression launched by Nicolás Maduro against dissenting voices after the vote.

Apart from the exchange with Borrell, the European Parliament will decide in a resolution the level of support it offers to the opposition candidate with the European PP leading the request to recognise González “as the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela” and María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in the country.

According to the draft resolution of the EPP to which Europa Press has had access, the PP will demand that all EU Member States recognise Edmundo González and that both the EU and the 27 “do everything possible” to ensure that he can take office in January 2025.

This call contrasts with the more nuanced message of the liberals and socialists who will not go beyond the language of the EU’s common position. The liberals, at the request of the PNV MEP Oihane Agirregoitia, will push for the recognition of Edmundo González as the winner of the Venezuelan presidential elections, while the socialists are sticking to the position of the EU which has not recognised Edmundo González as the president-elect.

The Conservatives and Reformists, a far-right group led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, do see the recognition of González as the legitimate elected president of Venezuela as “crucial”, as well as the call for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the 15-year ban on Machado and all other opposition political figures.