Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-13-Speech-4-142"
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"en.20030213.8.4-142"2
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"Mr President, the crisis in Venezuela’s two-party regime led to a solution’s being sought in terms of what we might call the populist panacea. What had happened is that, after 40 years of relative political stability, the two-party regime had been discredited as a result of accusations of corruption and malfunctioning of the democratic institutions.
The solution took the form of a regime that, to most intents and purposes, was plebiscitary in character, with a new constitution and with a president possessing considerable popular support but in which the democratic institutions did not operate properly.
In actual fact, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to Latin America. In Europe, too, there is a certain tendency at the present time to look for solutions in this type of populism, involving the discrediting of parliamentary and representative institutions. I believe that we can say, like Winston Churchill, that ‘parliamentary democracy is the worst political system … except for all the others’, and I think that the Venezuelans will now have to reflect upon the new type of constitution they want.
It is not, however, for us to tell the Venezuelans what to do. The motion for a resolution is not designed to recommend one course rather than another to the Venezuelans. It is the result of a compromise between various political forces, and that is why we, at this time, are rejecting the proposals for split votes on some aspects of the resolution tabled by Mr Ribeiro e Castro, even though we do in fact support his amendment about acknowledging the situation of immigrants.
What would be required would be for the European Parliament, together with other Community institutions, to intervene to help create a climate of understanding between the Venezuelans themselves. This Parliament already has experience of intervening in crises, for example in Central America – more specifically, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala – as well as in South America: more specifically, Chile and Paraguay.
Such an intervention, made in conjunction with parliamentarians from Latin America, could be useful in creating this climate of confidence required by Venezuela if it is to function properly."@en1
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