EU pitches for elections in Venezuela to resolve political dispute

The European Commission, the EU's executive, declined on Thursday to explicitly recognise Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim leader and called for a political process leading to new elections. "We stand behind the democratic forces in the country," a Commission spokeswoman told a regular news briefing.

Asked repeatedly by reporters why the bloc did not go so far as recognising Guaido, the spokeswoman said: "Our aim is to focus on developments on the ground in Venezuela ... we are giving support to the National Assembly, we would like a political process that should lead to elections."