On Thursday 19 September, MEPs decided to recognise opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as a ” the legitimate, democratically elected president of Venezuela ” Authorities in Caracas had declared incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the July presidential election, but most of the international community deplored the lack of tangible evidence of the transparency of the vote. Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, however, is in exile in Spain.
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In their text adopted in plenary in Strasbourg on Thursday 19 September, the European deputies invite the Member States of theEuropean Union to recognize in turn Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the legitimate president of VenezuelaThey also call on States to do ” all their possible ” so that he can ” take office on January 10, 2025“The resolution, which is not binding, was adopted by a majority of 309 votes to 201, with 12 abstentions.
In this text, the European deputies condemn ” electoral fraud orchestrated by the regime-controlled National Electoral Council ” of Nicolas Maduroand recall that the July presidential election was not ” failed to meet international standards for electoral integrity “.
They call on the European Union and the Member States to recognise Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate president of Venezuela, and to make ” all their possible ” so that he can ” take office on January 10, 2025 “.
“ We Venezuelans want the same thing as Europeans: to live in freedom and democracy. “, declared Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on X, thanking the European Parliament for this vote.
While denouncing “ the autocracy of the Maduro regime »Raphaël Glucksmann, the leader of the French delegation of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament, deplored that this resolution had been drafted and supported by the right-wing group of the European People’s Party (EPP), as well as the two far-right groups. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – of which Marion Maréchal is a member, who supported the text – and the Patriots for Europe (PfE), to which the president of the National Rally belongs Jordan BardellaThe latter did not take part in the vote, but the PfE supported the text.
” This deeply worrying act shows the total lack of scruples or reluctance of conservatives to ally themselves with political forces contrary to the fundamental values of democratic Europe. “, said Raphaël Glucksmann in a statement, who supported several amendments but did not take part in the vote on the resolution as a whole.
The centrist group Renew also indicated in a press release that it had not participated in the vote on this resolution, denouncing the participation of Patriots for Europe in its drafting, and refusing the ” standardization » from the extreme right.
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