The European Parliament has approved a motion to recognise Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González as his country’s legitimate president-elect, and has called on the governments of all EU member states to do the same.
The motion recognises González as “the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela” and calls on the EU and its members “to do their utmost to ensure that the legitimate and democratically elected president can assume his functions on 10th January 2025, in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution.”
The parliament passed the motion by 309 votes to 201, with the support of the centrist European People’s Party (EPP), the right-wing Patriots for Europe (PfE), and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Left-wing groups S&D, The Left, and the Greens all voted against it, while the liberal Renew group abstained.
Kinga Gál, vice president of Fidesz and 1st vice president of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament noted on X,
First big success of the conservative-right in the European Parliament! Left-wing parties are upset because the right-wing groups in the EP jointly adopted a resolution, which condemns the Maduro regime’s actions in Venezuela including electoral fraud, the persecution of the democratic opposition and the murder of innocent Venezuelan people. For them, upholding the undemocratic cordon sanitaire is more important.
The motion puts further pressure on Spain’s socialist government to recognise González. The opposition candidate fled to Spain seeking asylum earlier this month after signing a statement recognising dictator Nicolás Maduro as winner of July’s disputed election.
However, earlier on Wednesday, González said he was “coerced” into signing the document by vice-president Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly.
“They showed up with a document that I would have to sign to allow my departure from the country,” Gonzalez said.. “In other words, either I signed or I would face consequences. There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure.
He added that his signature was therefore “worthless.”
Opposition parties in Spain have put pressure on prime minister Pedro Sánchez to recognise González as the legitimate winner, something he has far refused to do. MEPs from Sánchez’s Socialist party voted against the European Parliament motion on Wednesday.
