EU rejects legitimacy of Venezuela's Maduro, stops short of recognising González as election winner
The EU's 27 foreign ministers said Maduro would remain Venezuela's de facto president but that they denied his democratic legitimacy.
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00:00The European Union says it won't recognize Nicolás Maduro's government in Venezuela one month after disputed elections were held.
00:08Venezuelans refused to give the EU the official voting records, which it says it needs to see to authenticate the results.
00:16There's strong evidence to suggest that opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.
00:23On Wednesday, Maduro's opponents once again protested in Venezuela's capital, Caracas,
00:28a month after the president was declared the winner.
00:31It's been more than a while since we've been asking for the voting records,
00:34and we have to give in to the evidence that they won't be presented.
00:38There's no will to present them, and therefore no will to verify them.
00:41In 2027, once we find that there's no will to hand over those records,
00:46what can we do to ensure that the democratic will of Venezuelans is respected and that it finally triumphs?
00:55In a brutal crackdown, more than 2,000 journalists, politicians and students have been arrested since the election was held.
01:03González, who the United States says was the real winner of the election, addressed an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday.
01:11The EU hasn't said who they think won, but it's considering sanctioning more members of both the government and Venezuela's National Assembly.
01:20That's not likely to be enough, argues one of the opposition's advisers.
01:24The link between Maduro's government and the top ranks of the army must be broken if it's to be encouraged to democratise,
01:32Nelson Dordelli Rosales says, and aid must also be linked to democratisation.
01:39Another action that could be some type of incentive is to create a package, an aid package, linked to the democratic transition of Venezuela.
01:48So once the Venezuelan transition is in place or is heading to that direction,
01:54this package, this financial package will be available for the reconstruction of the democratic system in Venezuela.
02:01Those are incentives that could be provided in order to break this situation where you have de facto authority relying on the military for support.
02:15And Rosales has also suggested the creation of an EU special envoy, as has been done for other turbulent regions of the world.