Venezuela on Tuesday disinvited the EU observer mission from its presidential election in July, calling for sanctions to be lifted.
Elvis Amoroso, the head of Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) on Tuesday demanded that "the EU proceed to the total lifting of the unilateral and genocidal coercive sanctions imposed on our people and to cease its hostile position against Venezuela."
EU representatives are not welcome in the South American country, Amoroso said.
The CNE had taken this decision on the basis of "its sovereignty" and taking into account the "incalculable financial damage" caused to people by the sanctions.
In addition, these punitive measures affected "the health of children and the elderly," he said.
The EU introduced sanctions against Venezuela in 2017. The measures include an "embargo on arms and on equipment for internal repression" and "a travel ban and an asset freeze on 54 officials responsible for human rights violations as well as for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela," according to Brussels.
The CNE's announcement came around two weeks after the EU temporarily lifted sanctions against four officials linked to the electoral authority, including Amoroso.
However, the Venezuelan government and Amoroso rejected the measure, saying it was not enough and calling for all sanctions to be lifted.
In the July 28 election, President Nicolás Maduro is seeking to secure his third term in office. He is running against long-time diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia from the opposition alliance Unidad Venezuela.
Urrutia was nominated as a replacement candidate for opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has been banned from office. Critics believe the election will be neither free nor fair.
Venezuela has been in a severe political and economic crisis for years. More than 7 million people have left the country in recent years due to poverty and violence, most to Colombia, according to United Nation figures.
