Новини

With Brexit just 47 days away, the British government asked lawmakers on Sunday to give Prime Minister Theresa May more time to rework her divorce deal with the European Union.

Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said Parliament would get to pass judgment on May’s Brexit plan “no later than Feb. 27.”

The promise is a bid to avert a showdown on Thursday, when Parliament is set to debate and vote on next moves in the Brexit process. Some lawmakers want to try to seize control and steer the country toward a softer exit from the bloc.

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but Parliament has rejected May’s divorce bill, leaving the prime minister to seek changes from the EU. The U.K.’s bid for last-minute changes has exasperated EU leaders, who insist the legally binding withdrawal agreement can’t be changed.

The impasse risks a chaotic “no deal” departure for Britain, which could be painful for businesses and ordinary people on both sides of the Channel.

British businesses fear a no-deal Brexit will cause gridlock at ports by ripping up the trade rulebook and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the U.K. and the EU, its biggest trading partner.

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told the BBC that a “disorderly exit” was now the most likely option.

Opponents of the government accuse May of deliberately wasting time so that Parliament will face a last-minute choice between her deal and no deal.

Carolyn Fairbairn of business group the Confederation of British Industry said failure to secure a deal in good time was “negligence on behalf of our political institutions and leaders.”

    
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Bulgaria will investigate reports that a new suspect in the Skripal nerve agent attack in Britain may also have been involved in a 2015 poisoning in Bulgaria, a ruling party lawmaker said Saturday. 

A parliamentary committee will on Thursday seek information from the intelligence services following a new investigation into the attempted poisoning of local businessman Emiliyan Gebrev, said Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the parliamentary leader of the ruling GERB party. 

“I am certain that the necessary coordination has already been set up between the Bulgarian, British and European authorities on the case and they are working actively on it,” he added. 

The statement was the first official reaction in Bulgaria to a report issued last week by the investigative website Bellingcat. 

That report identified a hitherto unknown third suspect in last year’s attack in Salisbury, England, on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. 

Russian role alleged

Skripal and his adult daughter were discovered unconscious on a Salisbury park bench after they had been poisoned by the highly toxic nerve agent Novichok in an attack the British government said was “almost certainly” approved by the Russian state. 

Although they both recovered, a British woman died last June after her partner picked up a discarded perfume bottle that investigators believe was used to carry the Novichok. 

British-based group Bellingcat has already used open-source techniques to identify two Russian military intelligence officers, Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, accused by Britain of carrying out the attack. 

Despite Russian denials that they were involved, both men are now the subject of EU sanctions. 

Bellingcat’s latest report identifies a third man — named by his alias “Sergey Fedotov” — as being involved in the British attack, having arrived in Britain two days before the Skripals were poisoned. 

They concluded that the same man may also have been involved in the attempted poisoning in April 2015 of Gebrev, a veteran of the Bulgarian arms industry. 

Presence in Sofia

“Fedotov” is said to have flown into Sofia from Moscow just days before Gebrev collapsed at a reception there on April 28, 2015, and fell into a coma with symptoms of severe poisoning. 

His son and one of his company executives were treated with similar symptoms, although all three recovered. 

On Friday, the Bulgarian weekly newspaper Capital cited Interior Ministry sources as confirming Fedotov’s itinerary in Bulgaria. 

The Salisbury attack, the first offensive use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II, caused an international outcry and prompted a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by Western nations — but not by Bulgaria. 
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Turkey on Saturday condemned China’s treatment of its Muslim ethnic Uighur people as “a great embarrassment for humanity,” adding to rights groups’ recent criticism of mass detentions of the Turkic-speaking minority. 

“The systematic assimilation policy of Chinese authorities toward Uighur Turks is a great embarrassment for humanity,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement. 

The northwest Xinjiang region of China, where most Uighurs live, has been under heavy police surveillance in recent years, after violent inter-ethnic tensions. 

Nearly 1 million Uighurs and other Turkic language-speaking minorities in China have reportedly been held in re-education camps, according to a U.N. panel of experts. 

Beijing says the “vocational education centers” help people steer clear of terrorism and allow them to be reintegrated into society.  

But critics say China is seeking to assimilate Xinjiang’s minority population and suppress religious and cultural practices that conflict with communist ideology and the dominant Han culture. 

“It is no longer a secret that more than 1 million Uighur Turks — who are exposed to arbitrary arrests — are subjected to torture and political brainwashing in concentration centers and prisons,” Aksoy said in the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.  

“Uighurs who are not detained in the camps are also under great pressure,” he added.  

Turkey called on the international community and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “to take effective steps to end the human tragedy in the Xinjiang region.” 

Most mainly Muslim countries have not been vocal on the issue, not criticizing the government in China, which is an important trading partner. 
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Prince Philip has decided to stop driving at age 97, less than a month after he was involved in a collision that left two women injured, Buckingham Palace said Saturday. 

The palace said in a statement that “after careful consideration,” Queen Elizabeth II’s husband “has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving license.” 

Philip was behind the wheel of a Land Rover near the royal family’s Sandringham estate in eastern England when he smashed into another car on Jan. 17. Philip had to be helped out of his overturned vehicle but wasn’t injured. Two women in the other car were injured, though not seriously, and a 9-month-old baby boy was unhurt. 

Philip was photographed driving again two days later, without a seat belt. Police said they offered him “suitable words of advice” after that. 

The prince was not charged in the crash. Police said he and the other driver were both given breath tests for alcohol and passed. 

In a letter of apology to one of the injured women, Philip said he was dazzled by the sun when he pulled onto a main road near the royal retreat, 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London. 

He told Emma Fairweather, who suffered a broken wrist in the crash, that “I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences.” The letter was published by a newspaper. 

There is no upper age limit for licensing drivers in Britain, although drivers over 70 are required to renew their licenses every three years and tell authorities about any medical conditions that might raise safety issues.
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After holding up its admission for years, Greece became the first nation Friday to ratify Macedonia’s membership of NATO after the two states resolved a decades-old name dispute last month.

NATO members signed the accord with Macedonia this week, days after the Greek parliament endorsed an agreement between Athens and Skopje that changes Macedonia’s name to North Macedonia.

Staring down strong domestic opposition from Greeks worried the Balkan neighbor was appropriating Greek heritage, the government of leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pushed the name change through parliament on Jan. 25.

Under NATO alliance rules, Macedonian membership now has to be approved by each member state, giving Greek lawmakers the opportunity for another round of verbal jousting over the controversy.

“I feel we did our patriotic duty. We did what is right,” Tsipras told parliament during a heated debate Friday.

The dispute had frustrated Macedonian attempts to join the EU and NATO: Greece is a member of both and has veto power over other countries joining.

It also exposed old rivalries with Russia, in a region where Moscow competes for influence with NATO and the EU. Moscow had taken a dim view of the name accord, and of Macedonian membership in NATO. It says the alliance is undermining security in the region by taking in Balkan members.

The accord over the name angered many Greeks who believed the ex-Yugoslav state was hijacking their history with a name linked to the Greek heritage of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon. Greece has a northern province called Macedonia.

One lawmaker described the pact as “worth spitting at,” another that Greece was “humiliated.”

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the opposition New Democracy party, said the agreement over the name change lacked legitimacy. This referred to the resignation of a junior partner from the governing coalition in January over the accord, which left the governing Syriza party short of an absolute majority in parliament.

“This is the final act of a nationally damaging deed,” he said.

Syriza has 145 seats in parliament but has support from a number of independents, allowing it to muster a majority in voting. The protocol was approved by 153 MPs.

The NATO ratification process typically takes about a year, and the United States has said it expects North Macedonia to formally join the alliance in 2020.
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For 10 days, the London Zoo kept its newly arrived male Sumatran tiger, Asim, in a separate enclosure from Melati, the female tiger who was supposed to become his mate. 

Zoologists gave them time to get used to each other’s presence and smells, and waited for what they felt would be the right time to let them get together. On Friday, they put the two tigers into the same enclosure — and Asim killed Melati as shocked handlers tried in vain to intervene. 

It was a tragic end to hopes that the two would eventually breed as part of a Europe-wide tiger conservation program for the endangered Sumatran subspecies. 

“Everyone here at ZSL London Zoo is devastated by the loss of Melati and we are heartbroken by this turn of events,” the zoo said in a statement. 

It said the focus now is “caring for Asim as we get through this difficult event.” 

The zoo said its experts had been carefully monitoring the tigers’ reactions to each other since Asim arrived 10 days ago and had seen “positive signs” that indicated the two should be put together. 

“Their introduction began as predicted, but quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction,” the zoo said. 

Contingency plans called for handlers to use loud noises, flares and alarms to try to distract the tigers, but that didn’t work. They did manage to put Asim, 7, back in a separate paddock, but by that time Melati, 10, was already dead. 

Asim’s arrival at the zoo last week had been trumpeted in a press release showing him on the prowl and describing him as a “strapping Sumatran tiger.” 

The organization Tigers in Crisis says there are estimated to be only 500 to 600 Sumatran tigers in the wild.
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France’s pro-EU government and Italy’s populist leaders sparred anew Friday, as business giants from both countries appealed for calm amid the neighbors’ biggest diplomatic spat since World War II.

France said the stunning recall of its ambassador to Italy was a temporary move — but an important signal to its historical ally not to meddle in internal French affairs.

In Italy, the deputy prime minister who’s the focus of French anger stood his ground, renewing criticism of France’s foreign policy.

France and Italy are founding members of the European Union, born from the ashes of World War II, and their unusual dispute is rippling around the continent at a time of growing tensions between nationalist and pro-EU forces.

French officials said Friday that this week’s recall of French Ambassador Christian Masset was prompted by months of “unfounded attacks” from Italian government members Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini, who have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic and migration policies.

Yellow vest meeting

But the main trigger for the crisis appeared to be Di Maio’s meeting in a Paris suburb this week with members of the yellow vests, a French anti-government movement seeking seats in the European Parliament.

French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said the visit violated “the most elementary diplomacy” because it was unannounced. Referring to Italy’s populist leaders, he criticized a “nationalist leprosy” eating away at Europe’s unity and said EU members should “behave better toward partners.”

A participant in the meeting, French activist Marc Doyer, told The Associated Press that it was initiated by Di Maio’s populist 5-Star movement and aimed at sharing advice on how to build a “citizens’ movement.”

Doyer said it provided useful technical and other guidance to potential yellow vest candidates and their supporters, and called the diplomat spat an overreaction.

“It’s a political game by certain people,” he said. “Free movement exists in Europe, and the meeting didn’t cost the French taxpayer anything.”

Di Maio said he had done nothing wrong by meeting with the yellow vest protesters without informing the French government.

 A borderless Europe “shouldn’t just be about allowing free circulation of merchandise and people, but also the free circulation of political forces that have a European outlook,” he said in a Facebook video while visiting Abruzzo.

Di Maio again blamed France for policies in African countries that he said had impeded their growth and fueled the flight of economic migrants to Europe. He also implicitly blamed Paris for the chaos in Libya that has led to years of instability and growth of migrant smuggling networks following France’s involvement in the NATO-led operation in 2011 that ousted former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power.

Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, meanwhile, offered France’s yellow vest movement technical advice on launching a version of the 5-Star movement’s online portal, which allows registered party members to vote on policy decisions and candidates.

“If useful, we can offer them a hand and do political activities in service of the French people,” Toninelli said, according to the ANSA news agency.

As the diplomatic spat simmered, a French yellow vest activist known for his extremist views held a gathering Friday in the Italian city of Sanremo.

Economic fears

The standoff was clearly sending jitters through Europe’s business world, given that the two countries are top trading partners and powerhouses of the EU economy. A pressing concern in Italy is the future of struggling national carrier Alitalia, amid rumored interest by Air France in some form of partnership.

Italian opposition leaders seized on a report Friday in business daily Il Sole 24 Ore that the French carrier had cooled on a deal as a result of the standoff. Di Maio, who is also Italy’s economic development minister, pushed back.

“I’ve been following the Alitalia dossier for months. Air France’s enthusiasm hasn’t cooled now,” he said.

The Italian business lobby Confindustria and its French counterpart Medef wrote to their respective leaders calling for “constructive dialogue” to resolve the dispute, which they warned could threaten Europe’s global standing.

“It’s necessary that the two historic protagonists of the process of integration don’t split, but reconfirm their elements of unity,” the presidents of the two groups wrote Macron and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte. “Europe is an economic giant and we have to work to make it become a political giant as well.”

The two business leaders — Vincenzo Boccia of Confindustria and Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux of Medef — confirmed plans for a joint meeting later this month in Paris.

French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told the AP that the ambassador recall “is an unprecedented gesture toward a European state that is aimed at making clear that there are things that are not done between neighboring countries, friends and partners within the European Union.”
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As numerous European clients of Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA petroleum company freeze crude purchases in the face of mounting international sanctions, analysts in Moscow say all of Venezuela’s Russian customers with the exception of Rosneft had begun suspending or liquidating contracts in mid-to-late 2018.

Caracas-based “Diario2001Online” news outlet reported last week that PDVSA had announced that one of its largest Russia contractors, Moscow-headquartered Lukoil, had suddenly frozen its contracts in Venezuela for fear of being subjected to U.S. financial system restrictions resulting from the rapidly unfolding political turmoil.

Moscow-based energy economist Mikhail Subbotin told VOA that in June a PDVSA official had notified eight of its international clients, including Lukoil, that it would be unable to meet its production commitments.

Lukoil forewarned

PDVSA had forewarned Lukoil in particular, Subbotin said, that its diluted crude oil deliveries would fall short by more than 100,000 barrels, suggesting Lukoil officials may have been mulling a termination of their Venezuela contracts as early as summer 2018.

Independent Russian defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer reiterated that point, explaining that, with the exception of Russia’s state-run Rosneft, an exodus of private Russian firms was underway before 2019.

“It wasn’t only Lukoil, but other [Russian] companies as well,” he told VOA, adding that Lukoil in particular had suspended or sold its contracts to Rosneft following last June’s especially dim PDVSA production forecast.

“As far as I know, all the companies left,” Felgenhauer said. “It happened quite some time ago, and I have to look for it online to figure out a precise date but, as I remember, it happened earlier. It is solely Rosneft that remains there. There are no more fools.”

Last week’s reports of a sudden Lukoil suspension of contracts relied almost exclusively on a Jan. 29 Tweet by Wall Street Journal correspondent Anatoly Kurmanaev, who said an industry supply official had confirmed Lukoil’s decision, which “threatens to leave [PDVSA] without gasoline and diluent (diluting agent) to process its crude.”

Kurmanaev, who has since joined The New York Times, also tweeted: 

Lukoil officials have not responded to multiple inquiries about the timing of contract suspensions.

Oil exports crucial

PDVSA brings in almost all of Venezuela’s income and is run by the military. A December investigation by Reuters called the company poorly run and unusually vulnerable to collapse if faced with U.S. sanctions.

Venezuela depends almost entirely on oil exports for hard currency, so the new U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s state-run oil company mean that the country will be able to purchase even fewer imports, including food.

Last month, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself interim president in a direct challenge to the power of socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, who had been sworn in to a second term in office only two weeks before.

U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Guaido as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela just minutes after Guaido said he was taking over as acting president.

Russia, China prop up Venezuela

Trump’s comments infuriated Russia, which views Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, and called the street anti-Maduro protests in Venezuela the result of a Western plot.

Russia and China are Venezuela’s biggest creditors, providing loans to help Maduro’s government prop up the country’s imploding economy.

Kremlin officials, Subbotin said, would likely be dismayed by a Lukoil pullout from the region, as such a move would only exacerbate circumstances on the ground in Caracas and undermine their efforts to resolve an entrenched political crisis unfolding in a key client state.

But Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, said many of Russia’s private investors have been shaky on Venezuela for some time.

“To start with, it’s quite far away, so it’s quite complicated for small- and medium-sized businesses to conduct affairs there,” he told VOA, adding that some Russian investors had anticipated that Venezuela’s sustained economic downturn could culminate in political repercussions.

“Private businesses just afraid to get involved there,” he said. “Many [Russians] just don’t believe in the stability of this regime.”
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The Dutch foreign minister says his country is in diplomatic discussions with Russia about whether Moscow bears legal responsibility in the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over Ukraine

The Netherlands is in diplomatic discussions with Russia about the European country’s assertion that Moscow bears legal responsibility for its role in the 2014 downing of a passenger jet over Ukraine, the Dutch foreign minister said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the initial diplomatic contacts were aimed at paving the way for formal talks and conducted in “a positive atmosphere.” He said it was too early to say where and when formal talks might take place.

“There are diplomatic contacts to see if we can begin formal talks about national responsibility for shooting down MH17,” Blok told Dutch reporters.

The Netherlands and Australia said last year they held Russia legally responsible for providing the missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers and crew members were killed.

About two-thirds of the people killed when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels slammed into the Boeing 777 were Dutch. The Netherlands has been one of the main driving forces behind seeking accountability for the attack.

Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce was on board the scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with his girlfriend, tweeted in response to Blok’s update: “It’s about time … 5 years on.”

International investigators last year said they had strong evidence the Buk missile system that shot down the airplane came from a Russia-based military unit. 

Russia has denied involvement and dismissed the findings from the international criminal probe because it was not invited to be part of the investigation team.

If Russia were ultimately to acknowledge some form of legal responsibility, it could lead to compensation claims from relatives of the people killed. 

When the Netherlands and Australia last year said they were holding Russia responsible, they quickly got backing from the United States, Britain and other allies. 

“It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement at the time.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May has approached a number of members of parliament from the opposition Labour Party to put forward an amendment to her withdrawal motion, The Sun newspaper reported late Thursday.

May is planning to back a new package of workers’ rights in a deal with some members of the Labour Party, the report said, citing sources.

On Wednesday, Labour made public a letter written by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to May offering to support her Brexit deal if she makes five legally binding commitments, including joining a customs union.

Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union March 29.

 
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The main umbrella organization of religious sisters in the United States is calling for an overhaul of the male-led leadership structure of the Catholic Church, after Pope Francis acknowledged the problem of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious also called Thursday for the creation of reporting mechanisms that ensure sisters who have been abused “are met with compassion and are offered safety.”

The conference represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the U.S. Its statement came after Francis acknowledged Tuesday that abuse of nuns was a problem and said the Vatican is working on it but more needs to be done.

The LCWR said current authority structures need to be changed “if the church is to regain its moral credibility and have a viable future.”
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France said on Thursday its defense cooperation with Cameroon was continuing a day after the United States said it was halting some military assistance to the West African country over allegations of human rights violations by its security forces.

“France is bound by a defense partnership agreement that it conducts according to the international standards,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a daily briefing with reporters.

“In accordance with international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, this cooperation is also intended to help Cameroon’s defense and security forces combat terrorism, especially against Boko Haram in the north of the country, while protecting the people. This cooperation continues.”

Cameroon has cooperated closely with the Western states in the fight against Islamist militant group Boko Haram in West and central Africa. But rights groups have accused authorities of using the fight against Boko Haram to crack down on political opponents, and make arbitrary arrests and torture people.

Authorities arrested opposition leader Maurice Kamto in January, accusing him of mobilizing dissent against President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country since 1982.

Biya has been accused by the opposition and rights groups of cracking down in two Anglophone regions to root out armed separatists vying for independence.

A State Department official on Wednesday said the United States’ decision to terminate some military programs and halt delivery of some equipment was to push Cameroon to show greater transparency in investigating credible allegations of gross violations of human rights security forces.

France, which has significant business interests in its former colony and relies on it to fight against Islamist militants, has been careful not to overly criticize the government’s handling of the crisis.

It has urged the Cameroonian government to engage in dialogue to stop an escalation in violence.
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The recognition by several EU countries of Juan Guaidó as acting president of Venezuela this week may further isolate Nicolas Maduro but the hesitation of some  European leaders to back the move may have bought  Maduro valuable time in which to mobilize and step up repression against his opposition, observers say.

When Guaidó invoked his constitutional powers as president of Venezuela’s congress to declare himself acting president on Jan. 23, he drew immediate recognition from U.S. President Donald Trump and 14 Latin American governments who have long denounced what they condemn as Maduro’s moves towards dictatorship.  President Donald Trump this week said U.S. military intervention remains an option.

EU countries waited until Feb. 4  when Spain’s socialist prime minister  Pedro Sánchez delivered a cautious statement recognizing Guaidó as “caretaker president”  while insisting on “elections  in the shortest time possible”, safeguards against “external intervention” in Venezuela and a “multilateral contact group” to open a dialogue with Maduro.

“Maduro has had 12 days in which to regroup and step up repression. There have been killings on the streets, arbitrary arrests and even an attempt to arrest legitimate interim president Juan Guaidó” said the leader of Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado, who has demanded that Sanchez to appear before Spain’s congress to “give explanations.”

Spain has been the EU’s reference point for Venezuelan policy due to its extensive historical, cultural and commercial ties with its former colony. Other EU leaders had deferred to Sanchez on the decision to give official backing to a self-proclaimed leader who was largely unknown and attacked by Maduro as a U.S. lackey.

Sanchez gave Maduro an 8-day period in which to call elections before recognizing Guaidó.

Maduro refused to accept what he called “ultimatums” and has spent the last several days visiting army garrisons to underpin support from the military who are the main pillar of his regime. Soldiers invaded Venezuela’s congressional building on Tuesday, according to news reports.  

Maduro’s ruling PSUV party also organized a mass rally in Caracas where the embattled president spoke last Sunday to eclipse opposition marches led by Guaidó.

Crackdown on opposition

Maduro’s secret police, SEBIN, has arrested about 1,000 opposition activists and a number of foreign journalists over the past two weeks, according to human rights organizations.

Hundreds of Russian advisers described by Kremlin officials as “military contractors” have also been arriving in Venezuela for the apparent purpose of protecting Maduro.  An ex-colonel in Colombia’s military intelligence service, Juan Marulanda, now an international security consultant, has told VOA that they are special forces being assigned to elite Venezuelan units to boost their capacity to resist a possible coup.

A Russian government spokesman said that Europe’s recognition of Guaido could provoke “civil war.”

Maduro has said he is in the process of arming political militias called Colectivos with high-powered weapons supplied by the armed forces.  

Despite clear signs that Maduro is digging in, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is exploring possibilities for a negotiated settlement.

She has refrained from recognizing Guaidó and has instead promoted an international contact group due to meet in Uruguay on Thursday to seek a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela.

Calling for talks with Maduro

Some European countries including Italy and Greece have not recognized Guaido and called for direct talks with Maduro.   

The U.S. position expressed by Vice President Mike Pence rules out any dialogue.

Spanish diplomats say that the Trump administration is influenced by Venezuelan opposition leaders who are highly critical of a former socialist prime minister who mediated in previous negotiations with Maduro which they say Maduro tried to use to legitimize his reelection in a sham poll.    

The father of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has been imprisoned by Maduro, said on Spanish television Monday that it was “senseless” to expect free elections in Venezuela under current electoral authorities which are controlled by the regime.

“The United States is convinced and has let us know that there is no room for more mediation or facilitating further conversations with Maduro,”  Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell told  Spain’s parliament last week.

Press reports said Madrid has yet to grant diplomatic status to the ambassador Guaidó has designated.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the U.S. ambassador in Madrid, Duke Buchan, met with Borrell hours before Guaidó proclaimed himself president of Venezuela Jan. 23 to urge the Spanish government to close ranks with the U.S., Canada and the Organization of American States.

But the Sanchez government is also influenced by the far left Podemos party on which it relies for critical parliamentary support.  Podemos spokespersons have often praised Maduro and criticized the decision to recognize Guaidó as dangerous.

Sanchez has said that his main concern is the well being of about 150,000 dual Spanish nationals who live in Venezuela where major Spanish companies including oil giant Repsol and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya are heavily invested. Italy’s oil company Eni also has investments there.  

A new test of Europe’s solidarity is expected in coming days as international  efforts get under way  introduce humanitarian aid to Venezuela. Spain, Germany and other EU countries have  pledged to lead the effort which Maduro has vowed to block, calling it a “Trojan Horse.”
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