The President of the European Parliament has used his intervention in the official opening of the Assembly – where he took stock of the relationship between Europe and Latin American & Caribbean countries – to draw judgement on the current situation in Venezuela from a position of aggression against a sovereign people. His intervention took place without the possibility of a response from the parliamentarians present. It was once again a shallow and despicable behaviour on his part.

We consider that Mr. Tajani's intervention lacked political diplomacy and was an attempt to interfere once again in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

We reiterate our solidarity with the people of Venezuela and against attempts to interfere in the political affairs of the country. We are mindful of the danger posed by the EU’s interference in the internal affairs of a sister country, which serve geostrategic and electoral interests of the European elites.

We recognise that dialogue between the parties is essential to overcome the current situation. In this regard, we support the mediation effort sponsored by UNASUR and promoted by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (former PM of Spain), Leonel Fernández (former President of the Dominican Republic) and Martín Torrijos (former President of Panama). We believe that this campaign of destabilisation of the democratically elected government of Venezuela does not in any way encourage dialogue between the parties concerned.