(AGI) Rome, Sept 1 - Venezuelan Deputy Minister for Europe,Alejandro Fleming, started his European tour in Italy onTuesday, where he is due to meet with Italian officials andrepresentatives of the Vatican. "The controversy betweenVenezuela and Colombia is not a problem of immigrants, but ofcorruption, drug trafficking and food smuggling," Mr Flemingtold the AGI news agency in an interview. He added: "We cannotallow that 40 percent of our food production be illegallysmuggled into Colombia. We must uphold the human right to foodand this is the reason why we have decided to close ourborders. Colombia does not perform any control despite ourrequest to Bogota to take joint action. Unfortunately, Colombiadidn't even give us the impression that they intend to act totackle the problem." In this situation, therefore, Venezuelahas not expelled refugees but only people associated with drugtrafficking and contraband, he said. The tensions betweenVenezuela and Colombia have even driven the European Union tointervene, accusing Caracas of not respecting internationallaw. Venezuela rebuffed the accusations in a statementdisseminated on Tuesday by the Venezuelan Embassy in Rome. Thenote defined the EU's statement as "immoral and hypocritical",and "drafted by bureaucrats rooted in the European Union whoallege, with no grounds or proof whatsoever, serious behaviourson the part of our country with reference to the sovereigndecision to implement measures to combat Colombianpara-military activities, drug trafficking and systematicattacks on Venezuela's economy that have been perpetrated bythe Republic of Colombia." The statements made, the communique'reads on, "were written by those who have provoked colossalhumanitarian tragedies in the Mediterranean, pursuant tomilitary intervention and violent terrorism in the countries ofthe Middle East, Asia and Africa." (AGI) . .