The European Union on Friday welcomed a US plan for a transitional government in Venezuela and subsequent lifting of economic sanctions.
Washington last month suggested that both hard left President Nicolas Maduro and his rival Juan Guaido - previously backed by the US - step aside in favour of a transitional administration made up of members of both their parties.
The shift in US tactics came as fears grow that the coronavirus pandemic will spread rapidly both inside and from Venezuela, an oil-wealthy nation now crumbling in an economic crisis.