The European Union insists on its thesis that an electoral solution to the political and social crisis in Venezuela is possible and hopes to take advantage of the new moment that the Latin American continent is experiencing to put negotiations between the Venezuelan government and opposition back on track, indicating that progress will be made in the coming months.
The EU External Action Service (EEAS) has its eyes set on the meeting of the Paris Forum for Peace, which brings together the government and opposition in Venezuela with the mediation of France, as a turning point to put the negotiations in Mexico, which have been at a standstill for months, back on track. «In the coming months we will have news from Venezuela and we will follow the situation closely,» said a senior EU official.
The talks in Mexico are seen as the key element to achieve a change in the Venezuelan system despite the fact that the process has been suspended for more than a year and achieved very limited results, mainly focused on the humanitarian situation in the country.
The EU is closely following the situation after having sent observers to the regional elections of November 2021 and maintains contacts with the main Venezuelan actors, both from the Executive of Nicolás Maduro and opposition figures such as Henrique Capriles or Leopoldo López. Within this framework, the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the EEAS, Enrique Mora, will travel to the country in February to continue mediation efforts to achieve fair and transparent elections, diplomatic sources have confirmed to Europa Press.
Despite the greeting of Nicolás Maduro with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, in recent days in the framework of the COP27, in Brussels they stress that he is an «illegitimate» president and that the European position has not changed. Since January last year the EU also does not consider Juan Guaidó as interim president and has downgraded his treatment to that of a relevant member of the opposition, among other leaders.
On the possibility of easing sanctions on the economic and energy level, the senior EU official said that diplomacy is weighing asking the United States for more exemptions for European companies to export Venezuelan oil. «We can talk to them to tell them that we want these exemptions to be bigger and more significant. Not only because we have a hypothetical need for oil, but because it is something we need to finance many humanitarian and social activities in Venezuela,» he said.
In any case, the EU has been insisting that the measures imposed on Venezuela are «reversible and scalable», depending on the evolution of the democratic situation, the rule of law and human rights in the country, currently affecting 55 officials responsible for violations of rights and the deterioration of the internal situation in Venezuela.
