According to its external representative Federica Mogherini, the EU wants to set up an international contact group to solve the crisis in Venezuela within 90 days. They should include, among others, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, but also Ecuador and Bolivia. The first meeting is scheduled for next week, Mogherini said yesterday on the sidelines of the foreign ministers meeting in Bucharest.
Maas hopes for a common line
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had previously stated that he hopes for a common EU approach to dealing with Venezuela. „There are courageous people on the streets now campaigning for democracy and oppression in their country,“ he said in the Romanian capital. Therefore, it is now a question of the European Union finding a united position on the question of the recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.
Germany and several other European states had already given the incumbent President Nicolas Maduro an ultimatum last weekend. If Maduro does not call for free and fair elections until this Sunday, they want to recognize Guaido, who has declared himself the interim head of state.
Meanwhile, according to Guaido, a special unit of the Venezuelan police has appeared in front of his house asking for his wife. He asked diplomats to accompany him home. The US has threatened the government in Caracas with grave consequences if something happens to Guaido.
EU Parliament behind Guaido
The European Parliament spearheaded the discussion: The delegates yesterday in Brussels decided by a large majority to recognize Guaido as the rightful interim president of the South American country. At the same time, they called on EU governments to follow this decision.
As a reason for the clear positioning in the adopted statement, the recent statements Maduro were called. He had publicly rejected the EU call for an immediate and fair election of the president in the country.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) reiterated the call for „free and fair elections“ in Venezuela soon. „Our patience is coming to an end,“ Kurz said on the short message service Twitter, recalling that the European Parliament had already recognized Guaido as the rightful interim president.
15 tons of central bank gold sold to Emirates
According to an insider, Venezuela sells 15 tonnes of gold from the Central Bank of the South American country to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With the measure, the state wants to take much needed capital to keep the country solvent, said a person familiar with the plans on Thursday. In return for the gold Venezuela should receive a euro amount in cash.
The sale of three tons of gold had already begun on January 26th. Last year, Venezuela had sold $ 900 million worth of gold to Turkey. All in all, Venezuela wanted to strike 29 tons of gold by February, it said further from the circles. At the end of November, the country was sitting on reserves of 132 tons of precious metal. At the central bank to date no opinion was received.
