The EU's 27 foreign ministers said Maduro would remain Venezuela's de facto president but that they denied his democratic legitimacy.
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00:00The European Union says it won't recognize Nicolás Maduro's government in Venezuela one month after disputed elections were held.
00:08Venezuelans refused to give the EU the official voting records, which it says it needs to see to authenticate the results.
00:16There's strong evidence to suggest that opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.
00:23On Wednesday, Maduro's opponents once again protested in Venezuela's capital, Caracas,
00:28a month after the president was declared the winner.
00:31It's been more than a while since we've been asking for the voting records,
00:34and we have to give in to the evidence that they won't be presented.
00:38There's no will to present them, and therefore no will to verify them.
00:41In 2027, once we find that there's no will to hand over those records,
00:46what can we do to ensure that the democratic will of Venezuelans is respected and that it finally triumphs?
00:55In a brutal crackdown, more than 2,000 journalists, politicians and students have been arrested since the election was held.
01:03González, who the United States says was the real winner of the election, addressed an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday.
01:11The EU hasn't said who they think won, but it's considering sanctioning more members of both the government and Venezuela's National Assembly.
01:20That's not likely to be enough, argues one of the opposition's advisers.
01:24The link between Maduro's government and the top ranks of the army must be broken if it's to be encouraged to democratise,
01:32Nelson Dordelli Rosales says, and aid must also be linked to democratisation.
01:39Another action that could be some type of incentive is to create a package, an aid package, linked to the democratic transition of Venezuela.
01:48So once the Venezuelan transition is in place or is heading to that direction,
01:54this package, this financial package will be available for the reconstruction of the democratic system in Venezuela.
02:01Those are incentives that could be provided in order to break this situation where you have de facto authority relying on the military for support.
02:15And Rosales has also suggested the creation of an EU special envoy, as has been done for other turbulent regions of the world.