Over 150 European Parliamentarians Declare Support for Venezuelan Reform

Over
200 representatives from 13 European countries – including over 150 MPs, MEPs
and regional politicians together with representatives of trade unions, national
student bodies, women's organisations, peace movements, writers and academics –
have backed a statement in support of the Venezuelan government's policies of
social progress and democratic inclusion.

They
have called for the outcome of the Venezuelan referendum on proposed
constitutional changes, on 2 December, to be respected.

Signatories
to the statement include Ken Livingstone; Fausto Bertinotti, the Head of the
Chamber of Deputies in Italy; Paolo Cento, Under-secretary of State to the
Italian Ministry of Economy; former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine MP
and Lothar Bisky MP, the co-Chairs of the Die Linke party in Germany, French
Senator Jean-Luc
Mélenchon and Willy Meyer MEP, Vice-Chair of the Euro-Latin American
Parliamentary Group.

The
statement says that 'the lives of millions of Venezuelans have
been transformed by the progressive social and democratic policies of Hugo
Chávez's government' and concludes
that: 'Venezuela is one of
the few countries in the world where both the constitution, and any revisions to
it, must be approved by a majority of citizens in a national referendum. We call
on the international community to respect the outcome of the coming referendum
and support the sovereign and democratic right of the Venezuelan people to
self-determination'.

The
statement has attracted support from
Belgium,
Britain, the
Czech
Republic,
France,
Germany,
Greece,
Ireland,
Italy,
Portugal,
Spain,
Sweden and
Switzerland after
being launched at the first Europe-wide conference in support of
Venezuela held on
November 10 in London.

Support
from across Europe:

In
Britain, support
for the statement has come from Ken Livingstone, and 24 MPs and MEPs from four
parties, including recent Labour deputy leadership candidate Jon Cruddas MP and
the Chair of Labour Friends of Venezuela, Colin Burgon MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP,
vice-Chair of All Parliamentary Group on Latin
America. Other
prominent figures to sign the statement include Nobel Prize winner Harold
Pinter; the writers John Pilger, Tariq Ali, Richard Gott, and Victoria Brittain,
film maker Ken Loach and prominent campaigners Tony Benn and Bruce
Kent.

Broad trade union support
came from 11 unions representing millions of workers, including the Deputy
General Secretary's of Britain's two largest unions, UNITE and UNISON, six
General Secretaries. Gemma Tumelty, President of the National Union of Students,
with over five million members, also signed.

Over 80 Italian
Parliamentarians, from four separate parties, signed the statement backing
Venezuela's right to
self-determination. These included Fausto Bertinotti, Head of the Chamber
of Deputies (PRC party), Paolo Cento, Under Secretary of State to the
Ministry of Economy (Green Party), Senator Giorgio Mele (Democratic Left for a
Social Europe) and Giuseppe Scobio, Deputy and President of the PdCI
party.

In
France, support for the
statement came from political figures including Françoise Castex, Socialist
Party MEP; Francis Wurtz MEP, Chair of the European United Left-Nordic Green
Left Group in the European Parliament; Alain Lipietz, Green Party MEP. Regional
leader Francois Auguste of the Region Rhone-Alps also gave support.

A wide range of
representatives of French civil society includes William Maunier of the SNRT-CGT
trade union; Jean-Baptiste Prévost, Vice-President of UNEF the National Students
Union; Bernard Cassen Director General of Le Monde Diplomatique and
Janette Habel, Professor, Institut des Hautes Etudes d'Amérique latine;

In
Germany, Lothar Bisky and Oskar
Lafontaine, the Chairs of the Die Linke Party, alongside Gregor Gysi, Chairman
of Die Linke Parliamentary Group, Norman Paech
Germany a member of Bundestag's Committee on
Foreign Affairs and Sevim Dagdelen MP and Helmuth Markov MEP backed the
statement. They were joined by representatives of civil society including Reiner
Braun, Executive Director, IALANA (International Association of Lawyers Against
Nuclear Arms) and Peter Wahl of the WEED (World Economy Ecology and Development)
NGO.

In Spain: Willy Meyer MEP, Vice-Chair of
the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly was joined by Mayors and regional
representatives including: Ramón Argüelles, Mayor of Lena; Jose Antonio Barroso,
Mayor of Puerto Real, Cadiz; Carmen Pérez Carballo, Director, Club Internacional
De Prensa (Xunta de Galicia); Angélica Carmenate Portilla, Delegacion
De Cultura, Diputación Provincial de Granada; and Jorge Pardo Piñera, Legal
Councillor, General Junta of the Asturias Principality and former Chief of Staff
of the Council of Justice and Foreign Relations. Prominent writers and
journalists to add their support include Antonio De Cabo of the Centre for
European Policy Studies, Pedro Navarro and Marcos Roitman.

In Portugal signatories included: Ilda
Figueiredo and Pedro Guerreiro MEPs; Jose
Oliveira, International Relations Officer of the SNTCT trade
union; Francisco Braz, President of the STAL trade union and Regina
Marques, National Director of the Women's Democratic Movement of
Portugal.

In
Belgium, François
Houtard, Director of the Centre Tricontinental (CETRI) and Eric Toussaint,
President of the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt signed the
statement.

In
Greece
support came from Athanasios Pafilis
MEP, the General Secretary of the World Peace Council; fellow MEPs Georgios
Toussas and Diamanto Manolakou and Nikolaos Farmakis, International
Secretary of OME-OTE trade union (Greek Telecom Employees' Federation)

In Ireland signatories included Ruairi
Quinn TD, Labour Party Spokesperson for Education and Science; Chris Andrews TD
of Fianna Fáil, Tony Gregory TD (Independent), Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD: Bairbre
De Brún MEP and Mary Lou
McDonald MEP of Sinn Fein; Martina Anderson MLA for Foyle; Jack O'Connor, General
President of Ireland's largest union SIPTU; and Rod Stoneman, Executive
Producer of the seminal film on
Venezuela, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

In
Sweden, seven
MPs and two MEPs supported the statement, including Mats Einarsson MP, Jens Holm
MEP and Eva-Britt Svensson MP, along with Eva Bjorklund from the national board
of the Left Party.

Statement in support of social
progress and democracy in Venezuela

We believe that the lives of
millions of Venezuelans have been transformed by the progressive social and
democratic policies of Hugo Chávez's government.

Extreme poverty has been
halved, illiteracy nearly eliminated, participation in education has more than
doubled and free basic health care extended to nearly 20 million people, who had
no access before. Unemployment has fallen to an historic low.

The
constitution introduced by President Chavez, approved by Venezuelans in a
popular referendum, is one of the most democratic in the world and enshrines
rights of previously excluded and minority groups. An emphasis on social
inclusion has improved the position of women and
Venezuela's black, mixed-race and indigenous
majority.

Venezuela's government has directly promoted participatory
democracy through community councils, urban land committees and other local
bodies.

President Chavez' sweeping social, political and economic agenda,
has been endorsed by Venezuelans in 11 democratic elections that have been
consistently judged free and fair by international observers. On 2 December the
Venezuelan people will once again be called on to vote, on a series of reforms
to the 1999 constitution proposed by President Chavez.

Venezuela is one
of the few countries in the world where both the constitution, and any revisions
to it, must be approved by a majority of citizens in a national referendum. We
call on the international community to respect the outcome of the coming
referendum and support the sovereign and democratic right of the Venezuelan
people to self-determination.