Aquí Europa
An official statement by the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, promoted by the Spanish government, states that it ‘remains extremely concerned about the deepening political crisis in Venezuela’.
The EU statement, which according to Spanish diplomatic sources has had the decisive impetus of the Spanish government, states:
‘The EU welcomes the interim report of the United Nations Group of Experts, invited by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) to assess the overall conduct of the elections in the framework of the Barbados Agreement. This report has shed light on the electoral process and highlighted the lack of substantiation of the results announced by the Venezuelan authorities.
To date, the Venezuelan authorities have failed to provide the necessary public evidence to assess the electoral process according to the standards outlined by the UN panel of experts.
In light of the ruling of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), it is worth recalling that the CNE is the body legally and constitutionally responsible for the transparent and detailed publication of official election results.
Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognised to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.
The European Union continues to urge the CNE to publish and independently verify the official voting records of all polling stations. Furthermore, the European Union underlines that the UN Group of Experts has confirmed that a sample of the revised tally sheets published by the opposition has the security features of the original results tally sheets, which confirms their reliability. According to the copies of the publicly available tally sheets, Edmundo González Urrutia would appear to be the winner of the presidential election by a significant majority.
The Venezuelan people must decide their own destiny. Their will must prevail. The European Union will continue to work with its regional partners to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people expressed at the ballot box is respected and to facilitate a Venezuelan-led dialogue that offers guarantees to both sides and leads to the restoration of democracy and a solution to the current humanitarian and socio-economic crisis.
The Venezuelan authorities must respect the right of all Venezuelans to demonstrate peacefully and freely express their political views without fear of reprisals. They must refrain from using excessive force, end repression and harassment of the opposition and civil society, and release all political prisoners. Human rights violations must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible must be held accountable’.
