Spain believes it is time for the European Union to review its sanctions against Venezuela and consider lifting at least some of them, as the United States has already partially done. The “positive development” of the dialogue between the government of Nicolás Maduro and the opposition, which have agreed to hold presidential elections next year, means that the Twenty-Seven must respond with a gesture to promote a process that seems to be taking place after years progresses towards stagnation. , says the Spanish executive.
“I have proposed examining the review of the EU sanctions against Venezuela in line with the recent US decisions in this regard and in view of the positive development of the dialogue between Venezuelans,” announced Acting Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares at the end of a meeting with his European counterparts counterparts in Luxembourg.
The decision comes a day after María Corina Machado’s victory in Venezuela’s opposition primaries on Sunday and just days after Washington also announced the temporary lifting of U.S. restrictions on the oil, gas and gold sectors. This is a decision made after it was announced that a political agreement had been reached in Barbados between representatives of the Maduro government and the opposition unity platform to respect the constitutional calendar and hold elections next year.
“Things are going well and the sanctions should not last forever,” but rather they should be an element of pressure to be withdrawn if the situation that led to their implementation changes, Albares recalled in a meeting with journalists. The EU has always defended its sanctions regime in Venezuela as an attempt to “promote peaceful dialogue and a democratic and sustainable solution to the country’s crises.” Now Spain believes that “if the dialogue between Venezuelans advances, we must change something in the EU,” emphasized Albares, recalling that it is the same carrot and stick policy that Washington applies, traditionally the “most bellicose “Politics of the world community regarding the Chavista regime.
The Spanish proposal comes at an opportune time. European sanctions are regularly reviewed and in the case of Venezuela it was decided on December 2, 2022 to extend them for another year, until November 14. However, the EU has applied it to this country since 2017, when it approved an embargo on weapons and equipment that could be used for internal repression. In addition, a list of people subject to travel bans and asset freezes has been drawn up, which has been expanded in recent years to include more than fifty affected people.
It is not the first Spanish gesture since the country took over the rotating EU presidency in early July to seek a political solution to the long-running Venezuelan crisis. The EU-Celac summit, held in Brussels in mid-July at Spain’s request, served as a framework for a closed-door meeting between the government and the Venezuelan opposition, with five European and Latin American leaders acting as guarantors. This meeting was aimed at reaching an agreement on the 2024 elections in the South American country. It was already suggested to the Maduro regime that the EU could gradually reduce its penalties in exchange for democratic progress.
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