Spain and Cuba confident that EU-Havana dialogue will continue

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Spain and Cuba confident that EU-Havana dialogue will continue
14.05.09 - 10:19 -
EFE |
PRAGUE

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos and his Cuban
counterpart both agreed that the recently reestablished dialogue between
the European Union and Cuba will continue.
Moratinos told reporters in Prague on Wednesday that Bruno Rodríguez
also expressed the wish that the "common position" adopted by the EU in
1996 can be modified when Spain heads the 27-member bloc during the
first half of 2010.
Moratinos, who on Wednesday in Prague is attending the meeting of EU
foreign ministers with Latin American colleagues from the Río Group,
confirmed that the meeting with Rodríguez was held in a "very cordial
and positive" atmosphere.
Cuba joined the Río Group last November.
"We decided to continue working in the same spirit and strengthing our
bilateral relations," Moratinos said.
The Spanish minister said that Rodríguez "thanked (Madrid) for the role"
it is playing in maintaining the political dialogue that the EU and the
communist-ruled island resumed last October once the diplomatic
sanctions imposed by Brussels on Havana in 2003 after the imprisonment
of 75 dissidents were lifted.
Democracy

In addition, Moratinos said, Rodríguez expressed to him his hope that
the common position, the text that governs the EU's relations with Cuba
and favors pluralist democracy and respect for human rights, could be
revised during the time Spain holds the EU's rotating presidency.
Moratinos said that, in his opinion, the text of the common position
will not be revoked next month by the EU Council of Ministers because
countries like the Czech Republic, which currently presides over the
bloc, are against changing the European policy toward Cuba.
Regarding the hypothetical visit to Havana by Prime Minister Jose Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero, Moratinos said that it has not been ruled out that
the trip could come off before the end of the year, but he also said
that it was "a visit that must be prepared well."
The common position was promoted by then-Spanish Premier Jose María
Aznar in 1996 and set as the EU's objective the promotion of democracy
and respect for human rights on the island, something that Fidel Castro
- since succeeded as Cuban president by younger brother Raul - deemed
intolerable interference in Cuban affairs orchestrated by the United States.

Spain and Cuba confident that EU-Havana dialogue will continue.
Surinenglish.com (15 May 2009)

http://www.surinenglish.com/20090514/news/world/spain-cuba-confident-that-200905141019.html