EU offers Cuba talks on ties despite contact freeze
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| Published on Thursday, June 14, 2007 |
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By Mark John
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters): European Union states agreed on Wednesday to invite a Cuban delegation to Brussels to explore the scope for a gradual thaw in ties, but backed away from ending a four-year-old freeze in contacts.
The 27-member bloc imposed the freeze after a crackdown on dissidents on the communist-run island in 2003. It eased restrictions on some lower-level contacts in 2005 and Spain has been leading a push for relations to be fully normalised.
Diplomats said the Spanish campaign had met resistance from others, such as the ex-communist Czech Republic, which objected to such a move, pointing to reports of human rights abuses.
"The EU would be ready to resume a comprehensive and open dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest," a draft statement prepared by envoys for EU foreign ministers meeting next Monday said.
"In the context of this dialogue, the EU will outline to the Cuban government its views on democracy, universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. For sounding this out, a Cuban delegation will be invited to Brussels," said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
The statement left out a passage from an earlier draft saying the EU was ready to lift the 2003 sanctions -- a move that would have irked the United States, which has tried to isolate the island with a 45-year-old economic embargo.
Diplomats said a number of eastern European countries which joined the bloc in 2004 still had vivid memories of repression under communism and believed that normalising ties would send the wrong signal to the Cuban leadership.
The statement deplored a lack of progress on human rights and urged the release of all political prisoners, adding: "This issue constitutes a key priority in (EU) policy towards Cuba."
It noted that last July's temporary handover of power by Fidel Castro to a collective leadership led by his brother Raul Castro "constitutes a new situation" and called on Cuban authorities to make economic and political reforms.
Aside from limiting official contacts in 2003, the EU urged its diplomats to shun Cuban cultural events and invited dissidents to receptions at EU embassies in Havana, sparking a row with Cuba widely dubbed "cocktail wars". | | | | Reads : 30 |
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