Borrell assumes European diplomacy and includes Venezuela on the agenda
The high positions of the European Union change headlines and the former Spanish chancellor Josep Borell will become the high representative for the Foreign Policy of the community in substitution of Federica Mogherini
Josep Borrell is not an anti-Nicolas Maduro radical and his positions in Spain, although institutionally inclined towards Juan Guaidó, are clearly focused on generating a political dialogue on the situation in Venezuela.
Although the socialist Pedro Sánchez recognized Guaidó’s investiture as interim president of the country, he did so after more than a lap and it was clear in the media that Chancellor Borrell did not really agree.
According to the newspaper El Mundo, Borrell “has experience as a foreign minister, a well-known career in Brussels, good knowledge of the continent and speaks English and French fluently, in addition to other languages. But he is 72 years old, a remarkable handicap for a position in which he must be constantly on an airplane. And a volcanic character and a language that warms up very quickly.”
Borrell is a veteran politician with the capacity to negotiate but it is possible that the opposition and the Venezuelan president recognized by Spain, Juan Guaidó, will not find a sounding board as clear as Mogherini was. Anyway, it will not be Borrell who determines the EU’s foreign policy on Venezuela, but rather the continental parliament.
In addition to Borrell, the German Ursula Von der Leyen will be the first woman to preside over the European Commission – the executive branch of the EU – and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will head the European Council.
L.Sáenz
Source: Banca & Negocios
