Ljubljana related

14 Feb 2019, 14:29 PM

STA, 14 February 2019 - The Slovenian government has recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president after almost two weeks of internal disputes, joining 23 EU member states who have already done that.

Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said the sole purpose of the recognition was to "call free, democratic and legitimate elections as soon as possible." "This is not about recognising an alternative government, it is merely the recognition of an interim president, nothing more."

Cerar had proposed the recognition ten days ago, but the decision was delayed by divisions in the coalition as well as threats by the Left, which supports the minority government but is not formally in the coalition, that recognising Guaido could impact the Left's cooperation with the government.

He said the delay - 19 EU members made the decision within a day - had "undermined the credibility of the country" when it comes to making important decisions.

Slovenians living in Venezuela have urged the government to recognise Guaido and Cerar said the move was a show of support for the Venezuelan people, 85% of whom live below the poverty line.

Interestingly, the government and Cerar used the expression "prepoznati" for the decision, although "priznati" would be customary. Whereas the word can be translated as recognise, it can also signal mere acknowledgement of a situation.

As Cerar put it, the government's decision is "a declarative act" with which Slovenia acknowledges the situation on the ground in Venezuela. "We are not interfering in the country's internal affairs," he stressed.

Slovenia has used the same procedure when it recognised the interim government in Libya or the rebels in Syria and it is a procedure that does not include prior debate at the National Assembly.

While Cerar did not say how the ministers voted today he expressed the hope that the decision would not jeopardise cooperation with the Left.

The Left has claimed recognising Guaido was tantamount to a recognition of American imperialism and interventionism, but Cerar said opposition to the government's decision constituted "opposition to democracy and human rights."

However, he also stressed that if the situation in Venezuela changes, the government "may have to reconsider".

Left MP Violeta Tomić said the government's decision was inadmissible and announced her party would demand an emergency session of the Foreign Policy Committee in a bid to have the government decision revoked.

But she was reserved as to what this meant for the Left's continued cooperation with the coalition beyond saying that it did not contribute to better cooperation.

The decision also angered the coalition Social Democrats (SD), who have been apprehensive about recognising Guaido from the start and whose ministers did not back the decision.

The party's foreign policy point man, MP Milan Brglez, said that Slovenia would henceforth be responsible for "everything Guaido and the coalition of the willing" do.

He said an in-depth debate would have to be held in parliament about the decision, which he said SD ministers did not endorse.

07 Feb 2019, 10:20 AM

STA, 6 February 2019 - As the government is about to decide whether to follow in the footsteps of several other EU countries by recognising Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, the coalition are divided on the issue with the Social Democrats (SD) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) arguing parliament should be consulted first.

Before taking any unilateral action which would mean assuming responsibility under international law, the government should discuss it with parliament, Milan Brglez, an MP for the SD and former speaker of parliament, told reporters on Wednesday.

He believes that Slovenian legislation is clear and that the National Assembly needs to take a decision on the matter, while he said that it would be very unpleasant if it had to discuss the matter subsequently.

He expressed concern about the hardship of the people of Venezuela, including Slovenians living there, who he said should be taken care of by the Foreign Ministry as a matter of priority.

Considering Venezuela's constitutional categories, a president's self-declaration could not have happened. "If this held true in Catalonia and Spain, I don't know why it wouldn't in such a case," said Brglez.

If in Catalonia's case "the constitutional constraints were those which wouldn't warrant direct application of international law over self-determination, I cannot see why it would be different this time around and why we would apply double standards in our foreign policy".

DeSUS leader Karl Erjavec, the former foreign minister now serving as defence minister, told the STA that the situation was a highly delicate one.

He believes that Foreign Minister Miro Cerar's proposal for Slovenia to recognise Guaido as interim president should be debated by the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee before the government took its decision.

Like Brglez, he warned that such decisions by the international community could have grave consequences for Venezuela and there was a serious risk of a civil war.

Erjavec believes that the solution for Venezuela is to hold an early democratic election. Whether Guiado's recognition could lead to such an election is in his view a very complicated question, but he said that it increased the danger of internal unrest.

Erjavec also noted that there was a very thin line as to whether recognising the interim president was interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. He believes that international organisations should exert pressure in order to have the country hold an early election.

Asked about whether the decision on recognising Guaido should be taken by the government or parliament, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) of Foreign Minister Cerar noted that in 2011 the government recognised the National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of Libya's people and in 2013 the government recognised the Syrian national coalition in the same way.

"We trust that the government will dedicate due attention to the matter and justify its decision. The important thing is that Slovenia stands by a position that is clear and right: that a free and democratic election should be held as soon as possible," the party stated on its website.

The LMŠ party of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec would not comment on the matter officially but unofficial information indicates that there is coordinated communication on the issue between the Foreign Ministry and Šarec's office.

The Foreign Ministry will brief the government on the situation in Venezuela on Thursday and the LMŠ will take steps based on the discussion.

The Left, the minority government's partner in the opposition, is strongly opposed to recognising Guaido with the party's MP Miha Kordiš saying the question of recognition "is the question of whether we'll break international law" and indicating it could impact on the Left's cooperation with the government.

"Guaido is a self-styled American appointee; as Slovenia we certainly cannot benevolently recognise someone who declared himself as one," Kordiš said, adding that Emmanuel Macron's presidency in France could be called into question because of the gilets jaunes.

The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) support recognising Guaido with NSi MP Jernej Vrtovec commenting that the recognition must lead to a democratic process starting with a writ of a snap presidential election.

He believes that the government can take the decision on the matter itself but that the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee should also discuss the issue.

SDS MP Žan Mahnič said the party favoured an earliest possible recognition of Guaido as an interim president and a snap election. He said it was up to the government whether the issue would be discussed by the Foreign Policy Committee but he did deem every discussion on the issue useful.

05 Feb 2019, 11:50 AM

STA, 4 February 2019 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar announced on Monday he would propose to the government that Slovenia recognise the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela's interim president with the intention of Guaido calling an early presidential election. The government is to decide on the proposal on Thursday at the latest.

Cerar made the announcement after a closed-door session of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee, which was to be briefed on Slovenia's lawsuit against Croatia over the border arbitration situation at the EU's Court of Justice.

Cerar spoke of a dramatic situation in Venezuela, which is experiencing a serious economic, social and humanitarian crisis. Three million people have emigrated in the last five years and human rights are not respected, he told the press.

He said that the recognition of Guaido would be "exclusively for the purpose of ... calling a new, fair, free and democratic election", and added that the final decision remained to be made by the Marjan Šarec-led cabinet.

"It's a fact that Mr. Maduro did not win in such an election. He won in an undemocratic election, meaning unfair, not free and lacking transparency," Cerar said.

Thus Slovenia needs to join the EU in helping in humanitarian efforts as well as, if necessary, step up sanctions against the current power holder.

"Above all, Slovenia needs to react in the right way. This means recognising the power holder that can and wants to call new elections as soon as possible, so that people can be helped, so that the rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights are restored."

He argued this would help restore peace and stability and help make sure that "people will not be without medicine and food, that they will not flee or fear state violence".

Cerar added that while the EU was united in the points listed, it is not the domain of the EU as a whole, "or this has not been the usual practice so far", to recognise power holders in individual countries". "This is now being left to individual countries to decide," he said.

TWEET

Meanwhile, the press was also addressed by Foreign Policy Committee chair Matjaž Nemec, who said that he in a way identified with Cerar, but that at the same time he saw himself confronted with a number of questions.

"Remembering how democracy was used as a pretence to approach the situation in Ukraine or the Arab Spring ... or the situation in Syria, I fear and warn that this could mean a new hot spot in South America. There are major interests involved," Nemec said.

While agreeing that the current leadership in Venezuela is incapable of governing, Nemec fears what the alternative could bring.

Several European countries recognised Guaido, the parliamentary speaker, as interim president today after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected the ultimatum to call an election by Sunday. Spain, Great Britain, France, Austria and Germany were among the first to do so.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="sl" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/vladaRS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vladaRS</a> bom predlagal, da <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Slovenija?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Slovenija</a> prizna predsednika Nacionalne skupščine <a href="https://twitter.com/jguaido?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jguaido</a> za začasnega predsednika Venezuele, z namenom izvedbe svobodnih, poštenih in demokratičnih predsedniških volitev. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Venezuela?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Venezuela</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MZZRS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MZZRS</a> <a href="https://t.co/Q9DdsCMjD0">pic.twitter.com/Q9DdsCMjD0</a></p>&mdash; dr. Miro Cerar (@MiroCerar) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiroCerar/status/1092477936177954818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2019</a></blockquote>

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