The European Union (EU) does not recognise the “democratic legitimacy” of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after his re-election in July, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, announced on Thursday.
Mr. Maduro “will continue to be president, yes, de facto. But we do not recognize democratic legitimacy based on results [électoraux] “which cannot be verified,” Borrell said after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Asked about the significance of such a decision, Mr Borrell acknowledged that the EU would continue to have relations with Mr Maduro’s Venezuela, as it does with other countries whose leaders it also does not recognise as having democratic legitimacy, as is the case in Nicaragua, he said.
“In diplomatic life, we do not recognize governments, but states,” he recalled.
The heads of diplomacy of the 27 took this decision after hearing the leader of the opposition in Venezuela, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who reported, by videoconference, on the political situation in his country after the presidential election of July 28.
The Venezuelan prosecutor’s office summoned him for the third time on Friday, warning him that an “arrest warrant” would be issued against him if he did not appear, according to the summons issued by the prosecutor on Thursday.
Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, who claims victory in this presidential election, ignored the two previous summonses.
“The situation in Venezuela is critical. So we invited the candidate who has achieved results demonstrating that [le président Nicolas] “Maduro did not win this election,” Borrell said shortly before the meeting began.
A former ambassador, now 74, Mr Gonzalez Urrutia has not appeared in public since July 30.
Nicolas Maduro, whose victory was validated by the Supreme Court on August 22, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the National Electoral Council, which has however not released the minutes of the polling stations, saying it was the victim of computer hacking.
The opposition, for its part, considers that its candidate obtained 60% of the votes.