CUBA-EU: A Bid to Improve Climate for Political Dialogue

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Aug 25 2001 (IPS) - Cuba and the European Union (EU) say they will try to build favourable conditions for renewing political dialogue, currently languishing due to Europe’s criticisms of the socialist-run island’s human rights record.

“Both sides agree on the need to advance toward constructive relations as soon as possible,” said Cuba’s foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque in a joint press conference with his Belgian counterpart, Louis Michel, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.

The two officials stressed that bilateral dialogue must be free of prior conditions, based on mutual respect, and must avoid excluding any issues.

Michel concluded his three-day visit Friday afternoon, wrapping up a mission he defined as “exploratory” for determining the possibilities of rapprochement between the EU and the Fidel Castro government. Pérez Roque paid a visit to Brussels in July.

Cuba’s political relations with the 15-member European bloc have been tense as a result of divergent opinions on the status of human rights on this Caribbean island.

The EU is a strong ally of the United States in demanding that Havana enact sweeping democratic reforms, and last April repeated its vote in Geneva in favour of a resolution condemning the Cuban socialist regime before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Pérez Roque confirmed – though without going into detail – that human rights did indeed come up in conversations with Michel, whose itinerary also included meetings with four representatives of Cuba’s internal dissident movement.

The Belgian minister, accompanied by his European delegation, spoke Thursday evening with Castro, who changed from his usual olive-green military uniform into an elegantly tailored suit to receive the diplomat at the Palace of the Revolution.

Michel says the next step is to inform the EU of Cuba’s willingness to advance toward political dialogue, the development of which would later require both sides to agree on a timeframe and agenda.

Since 1996, the European bloc has maintained its so-called “common position” on Cuba, aimed at opening the island-nation to a “process of peaceful transition toward democratic pluralism.”

The EU Council stated in June, when it emitted its tenth “common position” in six years, that it would welcome constructive dialogue with Cuba for a future framework of cooperation “based on respect for democratic principles, human rights and the state of law.”

So far, the Castro government’s response to such invitations has been to reject “dialogue with conditions,” though maintaining aspirations that Cuba would no longer be the only Latin American country that does not have Framework Cooperation Agreement with the EU.

For the Cuban authorities, the EU’s common position, evaluated and renewed every six months, “has been surpassed by time… and a broader platform is now necessary” for bilateral relations.

Another conflictive point is that Cuba became a full member last January of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of former European colonies, but the EU vetoed the island’s admission into the Cotonou Accord, through which the bloc offers ACP members trade benefits and aid.

In response, Cuba withdrew its candidacy for entry into the agreement, even though Havana had participated as an observer in drafting the accord – circumstances that deepened its tensions with EU.

Nevertheless, Pérez Roque assured that his country is now “ready to request admission into the Cotonou Accord if the appropriate conditions to do so are in place,” and all parties involved are willing to accept it.

Michel said this week that he would convey to his EU colleagues that Cuba accepts, without reservations, the Cotonou Accord, and that it will not abide specific conditions placed upon its admission.

Michel repeated in his numerous contacts with the media during his visit that he believes it is possible to create “a climate of mutual respect, of understanding and friendship” between the EU and the island.

“The EU is not attempting to express an arrogant point of view, but rather to discuss (with Cuba) the major issues that interest us both,” and to inform each other of our respective difficulties, hopes and prospects, said the diplomat shortly after his arrival in Havana Wednesday.

Europe as a whole receives 46 percent of Cuba’s foreign trade. Of the European total, 78 percent involves the 15 countries of the EU, which, say experts, see Cuba as a potential launch pad for trade with the Caribbean region in general.

Spain is the country with most companies operating in Cuba, with 99 (25 percent of the total foreign firms), followed by Canada, with 74, Italy (57), France (18) and Britain, with 14 companies on the island.