The European Union will be one of the guarantors of the integrity of the electoral process in Colombia this year.

Colombian President Iván Duque insisted Tuesday on the need to protect the upcoming legislative and presidential elections in his country from possible "foreign interference" during a speech before the European Parliament.

We have to be able to reject any attempt from outside that wants to turn our electoral systems into an experiment of hackers trained to mobilize and detonate hatred, said Duque, who is on an official trip to Europe.

The Colombian government has shown no evidence to indicate that international interference is taking place to affect the elections.

By sending an Electoral Observation Mission for the legislative elections, which will be held on March 13, and the presidential elections on May 29, the European Union will be one of the guarantors of the electoral process in Colombia. The first observers have already arrived in the country and are led by Javi López, a member of the European Parliament.

Ms. Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, assured in a joint press conference with President Duque that it is not possible to anticipate the conclusions of the observation mission and did not refer to any possible threat of interference. But maintained that she supports "all processes democratic and we trust that these elections will be free and fair”.

Last week the United States and Colombia agreed to share intelligence information to identify "any attempt at foreign influence" in the elections during a visit to Colombia by the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Ms. Victoria Nuland.