Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-137"
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"en.20041116.12.2-137"2
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"Mr President, there are two facts here: Cuba does not have political freedom, and neither did Spain when, under the Franco regime, with the jails full of political prisoners, she signed a spectacular trade agreement with the European Union. That is a fact. Another true fact is that the European Union has maintained a common position since 1996 which has produced no positive result whatsoever and which has made no contribution to improving the situation on the island.
Statements to the effect that those who do not agree, for example, with the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, or with the exiles in Miami, are on the side of Castro, are exactly the kind of things we have heard from the White House, saying that those who questioned the US position on Iraq were automatically allied with Saddam Hussein.
They are poor arguments, devoid of content and entirely inconsistent with European political reality, with the way in which we in Europe have dealt with our relations with every other region of the world, where we have rejected the black and white approach, a dialogue between Saint Michael and Satan, and where we work in accordance with the specific reality, with political practice, with changes as they take place. We have done so in relation to Libya, in relation to Iran, in relation to Korea. We have done so in relation to other countries and we want to continue doing so with Cuba.
The European Union’s position on Cuba cannot be based on a gut reaction or an instinctive rejection of the political reality of Cuba or the figure of Fidel Castro. The European Union’s policy on Cuba must be born of reason, as is the case with so many other places, and must take account of the real needs of the Cuban people.
The resolution to be voted on tomorrow, if voted for in its original version, prohibits the Council from modifying or even reconsidering the position on Cuba until Cuban jails have been emptied. We would like to empty Cuban jails of political prisoners and we would like political freedom in Azerbaijan and in Ukraine and in Belarus and in Sudan, and in China as well. But we know that this is far from pragmatic and inconsistent with the political realism with which we in Europe can act and which has produced many results in many parts of the world. We would also like the fanaticism of certain people to be replaced with pragmatic thinking so that we can really move towards the peaceful transition in Cuba that some people are doing everything they can to prevent."@en1
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