Speeches

Madam President, I would like to present an oral amend to this resolution, and this will need to be presented first. This amendment reads 'Recognises Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the election and the next constitutional President of Venezuela as of 10 January 2025 and also recognises María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, since she was elected at the primaries of the Unitary Platform in 2023 with 92.35 % of the vote;'. This is one amendment.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the world has seen and understood that Nicolás Maduro did not win the presidential elections of 28 June 2024, he lost them! For us Europeans and Democrats, there is one thing that needs to be clear today: If we limit ourselves to recognizing the defeated without recognizing the victor, we are benefiting the one who lost and does not want to leave power. If we keep waiting for something that we know will never happen, for the Maduro regime to publish the minutes that go against the Maduro regime, we know that we will wait as long as Maduro wants to stay in power, forever. And we, dear colleagues, cannot do that, we cannot allow that. We Europeans and Democrats, who have a community of more than a million nationals in Venezuela, defend Venezuelan freedom, not in spite of our communities, but because of our communities. At the entrance to this Parliament, no hall which we go through every day to enter here, it is written in 24 different languages: Democracy in Action. To honour this Parliament, we cannot stand still. We can't not act. We, 720 MEPs, represent here the most diverse assembly of elected representatives on the planet, with more nationalities, with more sensitivities, with more differences. But we have one thing in common, each and every one of us, it is what underpins our mandate, it is voting, it is electoral transparency, it is the sovereignty of our ballot boxes. We cannot deny others what has brought us here. We cannot deny others what we would not give up for ourselves. If Venezuelans, under a regime of oppression and dictatorship, have obtained such a clear majority around a democrat, what will be said of the European Parliament if it does not get a majority for this resolution? A friend once described Venezuela to me as a constant spring. Let us make this Parliament a constant defender of freedom.