CARACAS – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that the European Union had an anti-Venezuelan bias and accused the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, of being partial to the far-right in Venezuela.

Speaking on state-owned TV channel VTV, Maduro said he had sent his foreign minister Jorge Arreaza to Brussels to inform the EU that elections will be held, as planned, on May 20.

“The European Union is on the side of Donald Trump about Venezuela, it has an extremist anti-Venezuelan, anti-Bolivarian position (...), Mogherini only listens to one side of the Venezuelan reality, she is partial to the far-right, to the MUD (opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable),” Maduro said.

“I tell Federica: In Venezuela there are elections on May 20, let’s see what the EU does, because the people of Venezuela will vote in massive numbers and elect the president of the republic,” Maduro added.

On Wednesday, in Brussels, Arreaza had stressed on the credibility of Venezuela’s electoral system and said the country was facing “extraordinary attacks” in “every field you could imagine.”

In a press conference after meeting Mogherini, Arreaza had claimed Venezuela’s electoral system was secure and transparent.

However, the European External Action Service said in a statement that Mogherini told Arreaza that the EU expected the government of Venezuela to work toward a broad consensus that would allow the holding of “credible” elections.

“Such elections should ensure the participation of all political parties, without obstacles, under equal conditions and in conformity with the Venezuelan Constitution and international standards,” the EEAS statement said.