The opposition candidate – and for some countries president-elect of Venezuela -, Edmundo Gonzalezand the opposition leader, Maria Corina Machadohave been proclaimed this Thursday winners of the Sakharov Prize for freedom of conscience delivered annually by the European Parliament. They have been elected ahead of a Palestinian-Israeli project in defense of peace between the two countries and an activist from Azerbaijan. “They represent the people of Venezuela who fight to restore freedom and democracy. Venezuela will be free,” President Roberta Metsola said in the announcement.
The ruling has been announced by the European Parliament itself. In 2023 it was awarded to the Women, Life and Freedom movement of Iran and it is not the first time that the award has gone to Venezuela, since the opposition as a whole also received it in 2017, in that case for all the members of the National Assembly, led by, among others, Leopoldo López. “Europe sends a clear message to the world: Democracy is sacred, it must be respected and it must be defended. We will not rest until freedom returns to the people of Venezuela,” said the vice president of the EPP and leader of the PP in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat.
The candidacy of Machado and González, promoted by the EPP, with the support of ECR and Patriotas (Vox’s political family), has prevailed over the Azeri climate activist Gubad Ibadoghlu, proposed by the Greens, and two women’s organizations from the Middle East , a candidacy promoted by social democrats and liberals. The European Parliament, in fact, approved last month a resolution that called for the recognition of González as elected president of Venezuela.
So far, the prize has been granted to dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, civil society activists, writers, motherswives, minority leaders, an anti-terrorist group, peace activists, an anti-torture activist, a cartoonist, long-term prisoners of conscience, a filmmaker, the UN as an organization and even a child fighting for the right to education.
“It promotes in particular freedom of expression, minority rights, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the application of the rule of law. Several winners, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Muradhave subsequently received the Nobel Peace Prize,” they recall from the European Parliament.
The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize, endowed with 50,000 euros, in a solemn plenary session held in Strasbourg at the end of each year. Each of the political groups in Parliament can propose candidates, as can individual MEPs (the support of at least 40 MEPs is required for each candidate). The candidates are presented at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Development Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee, and the members of the full committees vote on a shortlist.
The final winner or winners of the Sakharov Prize are chosen by the Conference of Presidents, a body of the European Parliament headed by the President, which includes the leaders of all political groups represented in Parliament, “which makes the choice of the winners a truly European choice”they conclude.
#Edmundo #González #María #Corina #Machado #Sakharov #Prize #European #Parliament #freedom #conscience
