The European Union declares the representative of Nicaragua in Brussels 'persona non grata'

Zoila Yanira Müller Goff, Nicaraguan ambassador in Brussels, presents her credentials to King Felipe of Belgium, on June 29, 2022.Belgian Royal Palace (RR.SS.)

It has taken less than two weeks for the European Union to replicate the decision of the Government of Daniel Ortega to expel the European ambassador to Nicaragua, Bettina Muscheidt.

As announced this Monday by the Council of the European Union, the Nicaraguan representative before the European institutions, Zoila Yanira Müller Goff, has also been declared

although in her case this does not automatically lead to her expulsion from the territory. European.

"This is a reciprocal response to the decision of the Nicaraguan government on September 28 to declare the head of the EU delegation to Nicaragua as persona non grata," the European Council said in a statement.

For Brussels, the decision of the Ortega government, which involved the forced march of Muscheidt from the country a few days later, is an "unjustified" act, underlines the official letter.

The expulsion sparked immediate outrage in Brussels, which promised a "firm and proportionate" response after consulting all member states.

This has now come with the reciprocal measure against Müller Goff, appointed by Ortega last May as extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to Belgium, according to what the Efe news agency reported at the time.

The diplomat presented her credentials as head of the Nicaraguan mission to the EU on September 2 before the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.

Although the declaration of

takes effect immediately, it still has to be formally communicated to Müller Goff.

In any case, European sources told EL PAÍS that the measure does not automatically imply her expulsion, since, since she is also an ambassador to Belgium, it is up to this country to decide whether she takes that step or not.

However, the measure implies that the EU will no longer have dealings with the Nicaraguan diplomatic representative, who will also no longer have access to the European institutions or representatives.

The European Union has been expressing its concern for months with the Ortega government, which it accuses of increasingly isolating itself internationally.

The high representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, has not hesitated to describe the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, as a “dictatorship” in the past.

Last week, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also condemned the expulsion of the European ambassador, which she recalled occurred "only two weeks after the European Parliament called for an inclusive national dialogue to guarantee a peaceful and democratic solution to the social, political and human rights crisis” that Nicaragua is experiencing.

Despite the response of diplomatic reciprocity, the EU does not want to close all its doors to negotiations with Managua and is "open to dialogue with Nicaragua, as long as that dialogue is carried out in a respectful manner," it points out in the statement, in the which also "reaffirms" its commitment to "the Nicaraguan people and to the defense of democracy, the rule of law and human rights."

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