Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-290"
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"en.20011114.11.3-290"2
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"Once again, this honourable Assembly is inviting the presidency of the Council to discuss relations between Cuba and the European Union. I therefore hope to seize this opportunity to reiterate several points, and perhaps to clear up some misunderstandings regarding these relations. The European Union’s common position on Cuba remains the basis of the European Union’s policy on this country. As laid down in the Treaty on European Union, common positions are an instrument of the EU’s common, foreign and security policy (see Article 12) and the decisions concerning the common foreign and security policy are taken unanimously (see Article 23).
At the ninth revision of the common position on Cuba on 25 June, the Council noted that the common position was still valid. The EU’s objectives regarding Cuba are as before: to encourage a process of peaceful transition towards democratic pluralism and the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In parallel with this, the Council has always shown its willingness to maintain an open and constructive dialogue on all the issues of common interest. In June, the Council restated its intention to maintain this approach. It also showed a favourable opinion on establishing an open, political dialogue and on finding a future framework agreement on cooperation based on the respect of democratic principles, the principles of human rights and the rule of law. It is also in this spirit that an exploratory mission by the European Union’s troika, led by the deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Louis Michel, visited Havana on 23 and 24 August 2001. Moreover, at the ninth revision of the common position, the Council urged the European Commission to step up its efforts to cooperate, particularly with civil and non-governmental organisations in Cuba, to enable greater numbers of EU players on the ground to contribute more effectively in achieving the objectives of the common position. Furthermore, and as you yourself point out, the Member States of the European Union are Cuba’s main economic partners. However, we must remember that it was the Cuban authorities who broke off dialogue between the European Union and Cuba, when they cancelled the EU’s troika mission at Director-General level, virtually the day before it was due to take place, on 27 and 28 April 2000. It was also the Cuban authorities that, in May 2000, withdrew their request to sign up to the Cotonou agreement. In addition, and as the Council already noted at the ninth revision of the common position, there has so far been no firm indication that the Cuban government has had a change of policy and is moving towards achieving the objectives of the common position. The next meeting between the Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs and the EU troika has been scheduled, at Cuba’s request, to run in parallel with the 55th UN General Assembly which is currently underway, and, at this moment in time, I am as yet unable to give you any details of this second meeting."@en1
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