CUBA-E.U.: New Era of Dialogue Gets Underway

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Mar 11 2003 (IPS) - European Union Commissioner Poul Nielson’s five-day visit to Cuba has a full agenda, much of it aimed at reactivating relations with the island, which have been on tenterhooks in recent years due to differences on democracy and human rights.

Cuba is the only country in Latin America or the Caribbean that is not engaged in any treaties with the EU as a bloc, although the socialist-run country maintains fluid ties with each of EU’s 15 members separately.

Nielson’s agenda includes meetings with government officials and with representatives of dissident groups that are not recognised but are tolerated by the Fidel Castro administration.

The main objective of the EU commissioner’s trip, however, came Monday with the inauguration of the first permanent office in Cuba of the European Commission, the executive body of the EU. The office holds diplomatic status and is entrusted with guiding and improving bilateral relations.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the new offices, Nielson said the opening of the office was like "inaugurating a new era in the relations between the European Union and Cuba.

Cuba’s foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, echoed Nielson, saying the new EU mission would foster a new era of closer bilateral ties.

Cuban international affairs experts say the EU’s new efforts to strengthen relations became manifest when Belgium took its turn in the six-month rotating presidency of the bloc, from July to December 2001.

The EU mission in Havana will be dependent on the bloc’s delegation in the Dominican Republic. In charge of the new office is German diplomat Sven Kühnvon Burgsdorff, up to now chief of relations with Cuba for the foreign office of the European Commission.

According to EU sources, the mission will coordinate European assistance projects in Cuba and will channel the political dialogue between the island’s government and EU authorities.

Until now, the EU’s political presence and influence have been limited in the Cuban scenario, though the situation is expected to change with the opening of the new office.

The discrepancies between Havana and Brussels are laid out in the "common position" on Cuba that the EU approved in 1996. Proposed by Spain and renewed every six months since then, the policy in practice excludes Cuba from the benefits of a framework accord with the bloc.

The "common position" establishes that "full cooperation" from the EU for Cuba "will depend upon improvements in human rights and political freedom" on the Caribbean island.

Although the policy came at Spain’s behest, it is the European country with strongest ties to the island, particularly in trade and investment.

In April 2000, the EU stance led Havana to withdraw its application for inclusion in the Cotonou Agreement, which was signed that year in the city of that name in southern Benin. The accord covers EU multilateral cooperation for the 77 former European colonies that make up the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations.

Cuba holds observer status in the ACP group.

Belgium’s turn at the EU helm created a favourable context for renewing political dialogue with Cuba, and opened the door for Havana to once again apply for inclusion in the Cotonou Agreement in January of this year.

The EU is pleased to accept the application, Nielson said early in his talks with foreign minister Pérez Roque.

The commissioner commented that once Cuba joins the Cotonou pact, the EU will have a stronger basis for dialogue with the island.

However, some members of the European bloc insist that Cuba must show signs of "progress" with regard to democracy and human rights issues before attaining the benefits of cooperation between the EU and the ACP group.

Experts on the matter point out that the EU must decide on the Cuban application unanimously, and a single vote against Havana would be sufficient to block entry into the Cotonou Agreement.

But "the political cost of an action like that might not be worth the trouble," and Cuba would continue to be a member of the ACP group, where it has majority support from the rest of the members, commented one expert.

Cuban dissidents on the island agreed with the sectors of the EU that oppose the policies of the island’s government, and say Cuba should not be allowed to enter the Cotonou Agreement "under current circumstances."

Cuba’s entry into the pact should not serve to "politically and economically reinforce the totalitarian model of government," opposition activist Elizardo Sánchez, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told IPS.

A broad, in-depth dialogue between Cuba and the EU about fundamental freedoms and democracy is essential, Sánchez said.

The European Commission is currently evaluating whether Cuba complies with the socio-economic conditions for entry into the Cotonou Agreement, and is expected to present its report on the matter by mid-year.

Shortly before his trip to Havana, Nielson clarified that admission into the pact is not decided based on a country’s level of democracy. He noted that democratic progress is stimulated "through dialogue, once a country is within the accord."