European Parliament President on the situation in Venezuela 

Commenting ahead of the vote on the Constituent Assembly on 30 July 2017 in Venezuela, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani stated:

“This Sunday's vote on a Constituent Assembly is a new blow to democracy from the Maduro regime. Just ten days ago, more than 7 million Venezuelans clearly opposed it. We express our solidarity with the National Assembly, the Venezuelan legislative body directly elected by the people.

Once more, we call on the Government to stop the violence and release all the political prisoners. If there is a failure to do so, we should consider taking other concrete measures, such as the possibility of taking sanctions against senior Venezuelan officials.

Violence and repression are not the solution to the peaceful demonstrations. The European Parliament is willing to work, together with the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the Vatican - among others - to find a way out of this crisis.”