Sputnik:
Why has Rome refused
to recognize Guaido as an interim president despite the fact
that more than half of the EU nations did recognize him?
Paolo Salom:
We must say that this
political stance of our government is not as isolated as it
could seem.
Well, but we have to
admit that our government is a new one and is quite a
quarrelling one; and as you know, we will soon have elections in
Europe and different part of this alliance in Italian is called
"giallo-verde", green-yellow, because of the colors of the two
main parties mainly in the alliance,
the Lega and
the Five Star.
They are quarrelling between one another to get their electors'
attention, and probably an old habit of Italians is that
everything that the United States does is not well liked here.
So they see Venezuela
as the latest political coup of the White House.
So that's why the
government is reacting this way.
Sputnik:
Just give us a feel
for the general population in Italy then, do the Italian
population agree with the government's stance on this?
Paolo Salom:
I think that the
people who vote for this particular government they share this
view. I think that from our point of view this stance is well
received by these kinds of voters.
Sputnik:
Why is the majority
of EU countries backing Guaido? Have you got a take on that from
your point of view?
Paolo Salom:
This is more
difficult to assess in the sense that there are 27 countries in
the European Union and it's always so difficult to get one
stance on an international crisis like this one. It's very, very
complicated...
You know the world is
complicated and we know that behind of
what's happening in Venezuela
you have many situations and powers working on both sides.
I think that the majority of the EU countries are backing this
self-proclaimed president because they see the situation
of the Venezuelan population; and this is not a mystery...
Everybody knows that
Venezuela, notwithstanding the huge amount of oil they have, the
reserves they have, it's a poor country. People are starving and
they're fleeing their country.
So I think this is
sort of a humanitarian backing.
Sputnik:
Italy favors new
elections in Venezuela, how needed is the new vote given that
Maduro has already been re-elected and observers declared the
vote transparent and fair.
Have you got a point
of view?
Paolo Salom:
Yes, the stance of
Italy is for new election but we don't want to meddle in
domestic politics of Venezuela. And this is a good stance.
We're talking about a
South American country, I don't want to be offensive to anyone,
but we cannot assume that the democracy standards there are
comparable to those of other countries.
Problems have been
detected, but even if, let's say, the last presidential
elections were fair, which I actually doubt, but let's say that
they were, the situation at the moment in Venezuela is tragic.
So something has to be done.
The best solution
would be if the Venezuelan people choose what kind of
government they want to have.
So it's bad to see
other countries meddling in
their internal affairs, but we have to recognize that the people
in Venezuela are in a bad situation and they have to find a
way of their own...
That would be the
best thing to do.
