Top European Parliament lawmaker slams Greece over Venezuela

A top European Parliament lawmaker has slammed Greece’s stance on Venezuela’s political crisis, saying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is “blocking initiatives on a European level” that would support those “fighting for a democratic Venezuela.”

Manfred Weber, who heads the European Parliament's biggest group, said it was “a tragedy to see how the Greek government is now behaving on [a] European level,” and accused it of being closer “with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Maduro and not so much with the free world of democratic countries.”

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido has declared himself interim president, saying President Nicolas Maduros re-election was fraudulent. Greece’s governing SYRIZA party expressed full support for Maduro.

Weber said Thursday “everybody who has eyes in his head must see that in Venezuela we have a dictatorship.” [AP]