The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has assured this Tuesday from Brussels that a majority of European Union governments are favorable to his initiative to lift the European sanctions imposed on the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. As he explained, the head of Community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, is holding talks with the “few” member states that continue to show reservations.
“The issue continues to move forward. The High Representative is speaking with the few countries that still have some doubt or some reluctance,” Albares said to the media, defending that the EU must advance in normalizing its ties with Venezuela and support the process of political transition in the Latin American country.
In this line, the minister emphasized that Kallas backed his proposal to remove the restrictive measures against Rodríguez from the outset and that, as the months passed, a majority of European capitals in favor has been consolidating. “The High Representative agreed with me from the very first moment and at this time a majority of countries also are [in agreement],” he recalled about the initiative presented in February.
Albares reiterated that maintaining sanctions against Rodríguez — which prevent her from entering Community territory and provide for the freezing of her assets — “makes no sense” in the current Venezuelan political scenario, even more so after the leader has recently traveled to several European countries, such as the Netherlands and Italy, “with complete normality” and without incidents.
In his view, “The European Union has to have an interlocution, also a direct voice with Venezuela, as it has, for example, the United States. I don’t see why the European Union would have to fall behind,” he said, calling for Brussels to take “a step forward” and open stable channels for dialogue with Venezuelan authorities.
Spain offers support for the transition in Venezuela
On the other hand, the head of Foreign Affairs explained that, during the recent Ibero-American Summit held in Madrid, he held a meeting with the new Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oliver Blanco, to whom he conveyed Spain’s willingness to “accompany” the process of political transition in the country.
"Spain, if Venezuelans believe it to be useful, is willing to accompany this transition," he has said, stressing that any way out of the crisis must be defined by Venezuelans themselves and that "let them not come imposed from outside," and "of course" that "it should not include violence, either internal or, much less, external."
Albares has also welcomed the latest releases of political prisoners, although he has insisted that this process must continue until there is not a single person jailed for political reasons. "Until the last political prisoner is released in Venezuela," he has emphasized.
In addition, he has celebrated the return to the country of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, which he has described as "good news," and he has defended that any person who wishes to return to Venezuela can do so with guarantees of freedom and security.
Spain intervenes in the UN debate on Western Sahara
In another development, Albares has said that Spain has asked to intervene in the debate that the United Nations is holding this Tuesday on the future of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), after the Security Council failed to reach consensus on its continuation.
"It is not good news that the United Nations Security Council cannot agree," the minister lamented, reiterating Spain's support for the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura.
Asked whether the European Union could take on the deployment of a mission in Western Sahara if the MINURSO mandate failed—as happened with the UN mission in Lebanon, the UNIFIL—Albares has underscored that any political way out "has to be within the United Nations" because "that is what the parties have decided."
In this context, he has recalled that Spain recently made an airplane of the Armed Forces available to the UN envoy to facilitate his movements through the region in the search for a solution to the conflict, and he has assured that the Government will continue to offer "all the means" it deems appropriate to support his diplomatic efforts.