The Prime Minister of Greece, conservative Kyriákos Mitsotakis, met with the president of the Spanish Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in Athens on Friday. The Spanish Popular Party has increased its criticism against the progressive government for its diplomatic policy towards the crisis in Venezuela. They are demanding that the Spanish ambassador be withdrawn from Venezuela, accusing the government of not defending democracy in Venezuela, despite granting asylum to the opposition candidate who ran against Nicolás Maduro in the past elections. The tension between Venezuela and Spain has escalated after Caracas called back the Spanish ambassador following comments made by the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, labeling the Maduro government as a dictatorship.
The leadership of the Popular Party has decided to not hold back in the face of the crisis in Venezuela, using it as a tool in their domestic fight against the government of Pedro Sánchez. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the Popular Party, criticized the Spanish government from Athens, where he traveled to meet with the Greek Prime Minister to discuss immigration challenges. However, he overshadowed the intended message of discussing a European approach to handling migrant arrivals by focusing on the crisis in Venezuela. Feijóo insisted on recognizing Edmundo González as the elected president of Venezuela and accused the Sánchez government of not defending democracy in Caracas. He called for Spain to lead in recognizing González as the elected president and urged the European Union to do the same.
Feijóo launched allegations against the Sánchez government and its supposed complicity with the Maduro regime, ignoring the fact that the opposition candidate received asylum in Spain and met with Sánchez on Thursday. He criticized the government for not acknowledging the electoral results in Venezuela and disregarding the mandate from the Spanish Parliament to recognize the opposition leader. The Popular Party has continued to push its agenda on Venezuela, planning new initiatives to be debated in the coming week. They will urge the government to bring Maduro before the International Criminal Court and will seek a debate in the European Parliament for the recognition of González. Feijóo emphasized the importance of these actions in sending a message to Spain’s foreign policy and the stance of the Sánchez government.
The Popular Party is not backing down on their stance towards Venezuela and will continue to push for their demands. They are planning to use their majority in the Senate to push for actions against Maduro and will work towards gaining recognition for González in the European Parliament. Feijóo stressed the importance of these efforts in highlighting Spain’s failure to defend democracy in Venezuela and criticized the Sánchez government for prioritizing political and ideological interests over democratic values. The Popular Party believes that Spain is setting a poor example for the international community and will continue to pressure the government to take a stronger stance on the crisis in Venezuela.
