EU should not change policy on Cuba warn MEPs

Source: press release

Date: 15 May 2008

The European Union should not change its policy towards Cuba untilpolitical changes in Havana become reality and any 'critical'dialogue with Cuban authorities are extended to the representativesof democratic movements MEPs Jaime Mayor Oreja and José Ribeiro eCastro have warned.

This was the main conclusion of the two-day conference organised inBrussels by the Konrad Adenauer and Robert SchumanFoundations.

The event was chaired by EPP-ED vice chair, Jaime Mayor Oreja, withthe participation of representatives of movements working fordemocracy inside and outside Cuba, the US Department of State,Christian Democrat politicians from several Latin America countriesand organisations, MEPs, experts from the European Commission andthe Co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, formerMexican President, Vicente Fox.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the different points of viewsof the two sides of the Atlantic on the perspectives in Cuba afterthe Fidel and Raúl Castro regime; to analyse what the democraticalternatives are for the country, what could be the role of thedifferent opposition movements, as well as the different economicdevelopment scenarios, and the role of associated countries.

"If there is a transition or a change it should be with the supportof the Cuban people", stated Jaime Mayor Oreja, who considered thatthe recent announcements by Raúl Castro to allow Cubans to buylaptops or rent hotel rooms are only cosmetic and cannot beconsidered as a real will to achieve democratic freedom in thecountry.

President of the Euro-Latin America Assembly and parliament deputy,José Ignacio Salafranca, and José Ribeiro e Castro MEP pointed outthat if the Cuban authorities wanted to make the first step forchange, they should allow the EP Sakharov Prize Winners OswaldoPayá (2002) and the 'Ladies in White' (2005) to come to Brussels toexplain what is happening in the country.

"If they are not authorised to come, from an EU point of view, itwill mean that nothing has changed", Ribeiro e Castro said.

During his speech at the conference, the Co-President of theCentrist Democrat International, former Mexican President, VicenteFox, called on the EU to keep in mind the "democratic clause" inany relation to the Cuban authorities "as it was this clause thathelped Mexico to change its political system", and he also appealedto the Cuban authorities "to avoid cosmetic changes" and "tofacilitate the process of change" as "any action to retain freedomwill be against the Cuban people."

In the view of all the different speakers at the conference, thereis nothing happening now in Cuba that allows the EU to think thatdemocracy will be achieved.

"Political prisoners are still in prison, there is no freedom ofspeech, no freedom of association, nothing that makes us think thata democratic state will emerge", explained the Co-Chairman of theCDU/CSU in the German Bundestag, Arnold Vaatz.

Not enough reasons then, for the European Parliament to support anychange in the EU policy towards Cuba next June, when the EU ForeignAffairs Ministers will discuss the subject.

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