The European Commission Monday showed confidence that a clash between Spanish King Juan Carlos I and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, in the recent Ibero-American Summit in Chile, does not "tarnish the bilateral relations" of the European Union and Latin America.

Official sources in Brussels told DPA they hoped the incident "does not hit the negotiations currently under way" between the European Community and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) or with the Central American and Andean countries.

King Juan Carlos asked Chávez to shut up when the Venezuelan ruler attacked former Spanish head of government José María Aznar, calling him "fascist."