ZAGREB, February 27, 2018 – The situation in Venezuela, which has a Croatian community of about 5,000 people, continues to deteriorate as the authorities do not allow deliveries of the most essential humanitarian aid, Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said in Brussels on Monday. She attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers who discussed the situation in Venezuela, relations with Moldova and the Middle East peace process.
The situation in Venezuela is constantly deteriorating, and the EU has earlier imposed an embargo on arms exports to that country and sanctions on seven officials involved in human rights violations.
“In Venezuela, there are about 600,000 people who have dual citizenship or come from EU countries. The Croatian community there is about 5,000 strong and we too could not send humanitarian aid. The situation is also very bad with regard to medical supplies and undernourishment, especially among children and pregnant women. Unfortunately, the present government is giving no indications that this might change,” Pejčinović Burić said.
The Middle East peace process, which has been at a standstill for long, was also on the agenda. Ministers from the EU member states have had two informal meetings recently, one with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the other with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abass. On Monday, they met with the foreign ministers of the six Arab League countries.
The EU foreign ministers also discussed the situation in Moldova, saying that important steps had been taken in the country’s efforts to draw closer to the EU and in implementing the association agreement. The ministers expressed their commitment to Moldova’s EU integration and underscored the importance of further efforts in implementing the necessary reforms, especially the judicial reform, the fight against corruption, ensuring democratic frameworks such as election legislation and media freedoms, as well as in the financial and banking sectors, and improving the business and investment environment.
