| EU set to suspend sanctions on Cuba EU
Business, January 28, 2005. The European
Union will suspend sanctions against Cuba next week, in a further step to end
a standoff sparked by a crackdown on dissidents in 2003, according to a draft
document seen Thursday. The "temporary" move, expected to be
made at a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, comes after Fidel
Castro's regime announced this month a renewal of official contacts with all EU
countries. "All the measures taken on June 5, 2003 will be temporarily
suspended," said the draft conclusions of Monday's talks in Brussels, in
reference to the EU decision 18 months ago to slap the sanctions on Havana. This
will notably allow the resumption of high-level visits, the statement noted, but
said such trips must be used to push for improvements in human rights and the
rights of dissidents in Cuba. The EU froze relations with Cuba following
a crackdown that saw 75 dissidents jailed for terms of between six and 28 years.
Three Cubans found guilty of hijacking a ferry were executed. Fourteen
dissidents have since been freed in a move seen partly as a gesture to win over
EU nations. This month Cuba announced it was restoring diplomatic ties
with all EU states represented in Havana, including the four most opposed to lifting
the sanctions: the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. But
the suspension of the sanctions is not a definitive end to the row. According
to the draft, the EU also "reiterates its urgent demand that Cuba unconditionally
release all political prisoners ... still in detention," adding that the
foreign ministers will examine the suspension again before July. While
there are clear signs of a thaw between the EU and Havana, the biggest political
group in the European Parliament demanded that the EU should not fall into a "trap"
by Cuban authorities. The European People's Party (EPP) underlined notably
the issue of inviting dissidents to receptions at European countries' embassies
in Havana, which led to Cuba's crackdown on dissidents that in turn fueled the
decision to slap sanctions on Cuba. EPP group head Hans-Gert Poettering
said the EU accord would effectively allow Cuba to have "the final say on
who European missions are allowed to invite to their embassies and delegations
in Havana." "It is totally unacceptable that the Cuban government
will decide who our representations in Havana can, or cannot invite. This would
constitute a terrible precedent for the future," Poettering concluded. He
reminded EU governments that those still blocked in Cuba include Oswaldo Paya,
who won the EU parliament's 2002 Sakharov Prize named after the famed Soviet dissident.
EU
relations with Cuba
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© 2005 AFP. All other copyright © 2005 EUbusiness Ltd. | 
