The socialist MEP voted against the group and in favour of recognising Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
MEP Francisco Assis was one of the five socialists who voted, this Thursday, against their group in the European Parliament, in a resolution proposal of the EPP for the recognition of Edmundo González Urrutia as legitimate president of Venezuela and explains to the Observer that he did not even hesitate, since it is more than a political issue, “it was a moral question“.
He was one of the five Socialist MEPs who voted in favour of the project, which was also negotiated with the European Socialists. In the end, the S&D ended up voting against, but Assis did not agree with the position and, together with Isilda Gomes, Sérgio Gonçalves, André Rodrigues and Carla Tavares, there was also a divergence within the Portuguese Socialists themselves, as Marta Temido, Ana Catarina Mendes and Bruno Gonçalves voted in favour.
Assis considered that the “European Parliament, which has the Sakharov Prize [para a Liberdade de Pensamento] and that the fight for freedom must have that positioning” in relation to Venezuela. “González won without a doubt, with very wide margin“He also adds to the reasoning that led him to make the decision and that also influenced his visit, in 2018, to the Venezuelan refugee camps.
“From my knowledge of the situation and out of respect for the millions of people persecuted by a autocratic regime“I had a moral obligation” to vote in favour, he told the Observer. “I had no major doubts. It was an imperative of conscience. This is a moral question before it is a political question.”
Socialist MEPs are divided on Venezuela
The joint resolution was adopted with 309 votes in favour, 201 against and 12 abstentions and calls on the countries of the European Union to make every effort to ensure the inauguration of Edmundo González on 10 January 2025.
Accepting a demand from the European People’s Party (EPP), the resolution also calls for the arrest of Nicolás Maduro for “crimes against humanity and all serious violations of human rights.”
Source: Observadora
