Ane Barcos. Aquí Europa/ The Diplomat ‘There are no minutes, there is no verification and we fear there never will be,’ said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell yesterday after the informal meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, where the head of European diplomacy announced that the bloc will not accept the legitimacy of Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela's elected president. ‘He will be de facto president, but without democratic legitimacy,’ Borrell said, following a meeting in which the foreign ministers addressed the political crisis in Venezuela, triggered by the lack of transparency in the elections and a recent ruling by the country's Supreme Court of Justice, which gave Maduro as the winner. More than a month after the 28 July elections, the Venezuelan authorities have failed to publish and allow independent verification of the voting records of all polling stations. As the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, had indicated at the beginning of the meeting, after one month there is no hope that Maduro will present the minutes. In view of this situation, the ministers reiterated that, without verification of the results, the European Union will not recognise Maduro's victory, but neither will it recognise that of the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, something that other countries such as the United States have done. With regard to Maduro, Borrell said: ‘We do not consider him to be a democratically elected president, and in each case there will be consequences’, pointing out that the EU will in any case have to continue its relations with Caracas, just as it does with other countries whose government it does not recognise, such as Nicaragua, which he gave as an example. No more sanctions At the meeting, Minister Albares, while speaking of seeking tools to achieve progress in the dialogue between the government and the opposition, proposed, on behalf of Spain, that the EU apply sanctions against the Bolivarian regime to the rest of its European partners, but did not achieve consensus on this measure. Borrell himself was not very much in favour of applying more sanctions against Venezuela, after recalling that the EU has reached ‘almost its highest level’ with more than 50 personalities sanctioned, and there are only two or three who are not, including Maduro. The High Representative said that member states have preferred to ‘watch how events unfold’ and wait in case the Venezuelan government seeks some kind of negotiation. For now, the EU-27 are committed to intensifying dialogue with regional actors, such as Brazil and Colombia, which are leading the mediation to find a way out of the crisis, and are focusing on the internal repression in the Latin American country, assuring that ‘everything possible’ must be done to preserve the physical integrity of opposition leaders. Intensified support for Ukraine The meeting in Brussels was also attended by Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who discussed with his European counterparts ways to increase support for Kiev. Borrell noted that many member states strongly support Ukraine in its right to self-defence against Russian encroachment. He warned of the possibility of further Russian attacks, stressing that ‘Russia seeks to raze cities and destroy Ukraine's energy capacity before winter’. Kuleba welcomed the EU's support, but reminded the EU that ‘any delay is too costly’, a point Borrell reinforced by urging member states to increase aid deliveries. Sanctions on Israel and the situation in the Middle East European ministers also discussed the situation in the Middle East, amid the recent escalation of tensions in Gaza. Sigrid Kaag, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, briefed ministers on the critical humanitarian situation. With polio reappearing in the Strip after more than two decades, the High Representative on Thursday called for a three-day ceasefire to allow for a vaccination campaign to stop the spread of the virus. Despite differences between ministers, Borrell proposed putting the Israeli ministers on the EU sanctions list. As this was an informal meeting, the ministers could not take official decisions, but the head of European diplomacy announced his intention to take the proposal to the next Council, where the ministers will be able to vote. EU-Turkey relations During a lunch with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, EU ministers discussed the state of relations between the EU and Turkey, a candidate for accession. The dialogue focused on the situation in Cyprus and the need to promote political dialogue to resolve tensions in the region.
