Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-28-Speech-3-271"
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"en.20071128.25.3-271"2
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".
Madam President, the first thing we have to do in this Parliament, in line with its own tradition of respect and non-interference, is not inflame the situation further, either in continents or third countries, as a result of our own words.
Mr Millán Mon is right to say that Latin America has developed very positively in recent years, both politically – as the vast majority of its countries are democratic – and economically, and also, albeit more modestly, in social terms.
Europe has contributed extensively to this development, through its companies, its investments and particularly its development aid which is the highest in that continent.
In this general context, I would not say that there is an exception, but rather that there is a particular situation in Venezuela due to the personality, which is also very particular and very much his own, of President Chávez. However, it must not be forgotten – especially not in a democratic institution such as this one – that President Chávez has been re-elected three times with large majorities and without any justified suspicions of electoral fraud.
Under these circumstances – that is to say, we are not talking about a dictatorship – we must tread carefully, try to increase dialogue by extending the hand of friendship and also encourage this country, which admittedly is fractured and divided, to engage in internal dialogue, consensus and reconciliation. We must do this in the belief that a country cannot be transformed with a majority of just 60% or 40% and that the rules of the game cannot be changed without a broad consensus involving at least 70% or 80%, as has occurred in other countries around us and in our old continent, in the European Union.
Admittedly, the internal situation is very worrying for the reasons that I have set out: the drift or the suspicion of a drift towards authoritarianism; the concentration of power; the successive loss of the division of powers, and also the reduction in freedom of expression using an instrument barely known in Europe which is termed ‘
’. This allows the President or one of his ministers to commandeer, at any time, all the television channels and all the radio transmitters so that the President’s messages can be broadcast. These do not just last a minute or two. In fact, in exceptional cases, they can go on for several hours a day. In a country where few newspapers are read and where television and radio are the main media, this is a problematic situation.
However, I insist – and I will end on this point – that, faced with this referendum, we must be cautious, offer dialogue, hold out the hand of friendship and try to mediate between the two opposing sides in Venezuela."@en1
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"en cadena"1
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