Brussels, June 30, 2020 (AFP)
The European Union called Tuesday on Venezuela to reverse its decision to expel the EU's envoy in Caracas as it summoned the Venezuelan ambassador to Brussels in protest.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday gave the EU's Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa 72 hours to leave the country in response to European sanctions against 11 Venezuelans.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has condemned the expulsion, saying it would not go unanswered and urged Maduro to change course.
"We are calling (on Venezuela) to reverse this decision," Borrell said in a statement.
European diplomacy spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson told reporters Brussels would summon the Venezuelan ambassador on Tuesday but sources later told AFP the "talks will not happen today."
The EU spokeswoman said the bloc would see what action can be taken while pointing out that it "cannot physically expel an ambassador from a territory, since that is a competence of a host country".
The Venezuelan ambassador to the EU, Claudia Salerno, is also an envoy to Belgium and Luxembourg.
The EU could declare Salerno "persona non grata" under the Vienna Convention, said Battu-Henriksson, adding that next steps would be discussed with the two host countries.
Relations have been tense since 2017, when Venezuela became the first Latin American country to be hit by EU sanctions, including an arms embargo.

Sumber : AFP