Copenhagen, 4-5 september 2017

As the political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela continues to worsen, the European People’s Party strongly declares its support for the country’s democratic institutions, its solidarity with the suffering Venezuelan people and their democratically elected representatives and its 8 insistence on a return to constitutional order and governance. The recently installed “Communal Constituent Assembly” — chosen in a dubious 30 July election denounced by the company conducting the electronic voting as a fake election, whose legitimacy the European Union, along with many other observers, has not recognised and which others have denounced as a coup d’état — has assumed legislative powers and been tasked with re-writing the constitution, all in order to legitimise President Nicolás Maduro’s further consolidation of power; this process is meant to undermine what remains of Venezuela’s democratic order, and the EPP rejects it unequivocally. It is long past time for the Maduro regime to heed the voices of the Venezuelan people. It is time for a clear timetable for free and fair national elections.

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