The announcement reverses the previous government's position which had aligned itself with embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Greece’s new government is recognising Venezuelan Opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim President, saying this would align Greece with the European Union’s joint position.

The foreign ministry announcement on July 12 reverses the previous government’s position, which had aligned itself with embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Around 50 countries have recognised Mr. Guaido as interim President, asserting that Mr. Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate.

Greece’s foreign ministry announced that it had “decided to recognise the president of the democratically elected national assembly, Juan Guaido, as the interim president of Venezuela in order for him to call free, fair and democratic presidential elections.”

The country’s conservative party, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, comfortably won the 2019 Greek legislative election held on July 7, defeating the previous left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras.