Following a proposal of the PPE (parliamentary group of the European people's party, Christian democratic parliamentary group), supported by the PSE (parliamentary group of the social-democratic party of Europe), on the 4th of march,
the conference of the presidents decided to add the topic Venezuela to a list of the European Union parliament for countries with increased human right problems.
Left parties, the Greens and the liberals were against the resolution.
The following Monday, the time period for the submission of the suggested resolution ran out, the negotiations took place Tuesday and Wednesday, the debate and voting then on Thursday 11 March 2004.