Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-146"
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"en.20041116.12.2-146"2
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"Mr President, the Cuban political system is unique in the world. We, as a parliament, absolutely condemn the human rights situation in the country and the lack of free speech. However, that is not to say that the situation is all bad. On a recent visit to the country we found that schools, where there is a ratio of 15 pupils to one teacher, are the envy of Europe. The humanitarian work of educating doctors to transform health services in developing countries is not a case of talking about solidarity with Africa, but acting on solidarity with Africa.
Today, however, relations between the EU and Cuba are at an all-time low. There has been no high-level contact between the governments of the EU and Cuba for over a year. The situation came about as a result of the EU pursuing sanctions against Cuba for a crackdown on dissidents in 2003. The sanctions came in the form of an invitation to Cuban dissidents to attend Member States' national day celebrations, alongside government representatives in Cuba. This action clearly infuriated the Cubans. They were the ones who cut off contact.
My appeal tonight is that we should be consistent in our approach to human rights. By all means condemn human rights violations in Cuba, but do the same in China. If you are to impose these kinds of sanctions on Cuba, then impose them on China as well. I feel that the EU strategy relating to Cuba is to spread an incredible degree of naivety. Did we really think that we could shift the human rights agenda in Cuba by inviting a few dissidents to a party when 40 years of US embargo have failed? We need to adopt alternative strategies to push the human rights agenda. The current method is not working.
Mr White argued for the freeing of all dissidents in Cuba. What about Spain? Do you want to free all dissidents in Spain as well? I will not be lectured to by the Spanish PPE on visiting Cuba when the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Ancram, was swanning around Havana last week. It is time that you and Mr Tannock got over losing the elections. Get over it and stop imposing your stupid obsessions on the rest of the European Parliament!"@en1
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