Friday, March 7, 2014

Oppressive, Communist Cuba Accepts EU Proposal to Begin Negotiations

03/07/2014

Because compromising with tyrannical regimes is trending right now!!!


HAVANA – Cuba informed the European Union Thursday that it has accepted the bloc’s proposal to begin negotiations on political dialogue and cooperation, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said.

“Cuba received with satisfaction the Feb. 10 proposal of ... (EU) high representative (Catherine Ashton), which means the end of the unilateral policies of the European Union on Cuba and accepting the start of negotiations on that subject,” he told a press conference.

Rodriguez guaranteed that Cuba will act “constructively” in the talks.

“Cuba is fully willing to discuss, on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect, any issue, including the issues of human rights about which it has great concern regarding what is occurring in different European countries,” said the foreign minister.

After reviewing the milestones that have marked the relationship between the 28-nation bloc and the communist island, Rodriguez said that the EU’s decision to propose this negotiation process “shows that the unilateral policies are not working and have no place in the current period.”

“The unilateral policies such as those applied by the government of the United States against Cuba based on the economic, political and media embargo anchored in the Cold War ... do not work, will not work,” he said.

EU foreign ministers agreed last month to open negotiations with Cuba on a political dialogue and cooperation agreement.

Talks will begin while the “common position” – the restrictive policy that has governed EU relations with Havana since 1996 – remains in force, according to Ashton, who is the bloc’s top diplomat.

This latest step is not a change in direction for the European bloc vis-a-vis the island but rather the creation of a new instrument to deepen relations, encourage the reforms undertaken by the communist regime and foster greater respect for human rights in Cuba, she said.

The EU resumed dialogue with Cuba in 2008 after lifting – at Spain’s suggestion – the diplomatic sanctions imposed in 2003 after Havana imprisoned 75 dissidents.


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