Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to stop selling oil to the EU in reaction to a new migration law.
EU leaders believe President Chavez has misunderstood the new European Union law.
The 27-nation bloc agreed this week that illegal immigrants can be detained for up to 18 months and face a re-entry ban of up to five years.
Mr Chavez said the rules were ‘shameful’ and said he might cancel investments in the South American country made by European countries that enact them as well as stop their oil shipments.
Spain's prime minister said Madrid was prepared to explain the new law ‘so that the EU's relationship with all Latin American countries remains positive.’
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country holds the EU presidency, said Mr Chavez's threat of withholding oil exports was ‘perhaps exaggerated and perhaps not really understanding’ of what the new laws meant.
EU officials argue the bloc needs to get tougher on illegal immigration to convince voters to be more accepting of legal immigrants.
Other senior officials in Latin America and rights groups such as Amnesty International have expressed concern about the EU migration rules.
President Chavez, a left-wing leader with a track record of confrontation with rich countries, has nationalised several foreign-owned companies in Venezuela, turning them into joint ventures controlled by the state.
He has regularly issued conditional threats to halt crude shipments from Venezuela -- one of the world's largest exporters of oil -- although he has never followed through on a move that would hurt supplies at a time of record prices.
Venezuela exports 2 million barrels of oil per day about 400,000 going to Europe.
