|
 Foreign ministers from the EU's 28 countries will give the
go-ahead on February 10 to launch talks with Havana on a special
cooperation accord to increase trade, investment and dialogue on
human rights. The pact could be agreed by the end of 2015.
"Cuba wants capital and the European Union wants influence," said
one person involved in the talks who declined to be named because of
the sensitivity of the issue. "This cooperation could serve as a
prelude to much more."
Two other people with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters
that a consensus had been reached in Brussels to give momentum to
Cuba's market-oriented reforms under President Raul Castro and to
position European companies for any transition to a more capitalist
economy there in the longer term.
While the initial impact of a cooperation agreement will be limited,
the symbolism is huge for the EU, whose ties with Cuba had been
strained since it imposed sanctions in 2003 in response to Havana's
arrest of 75 dissidents.
Although the EU lifted those sanctions in 2008, the normalization of
relations has been tortuous because of resistance from Poland and
the Czech Republic due to their own communist past.
Havana has rejected the EU's "common position" on Cuba that the bloc
adopted in 1996 to promote human rights and democracy.
Furthermore, the United States, Cuba's long-time foe that has kept
an embargo against the Caribbean island since 1962, had exerted
pressure on Brussels to try to isolate Havana.
Washington has not sought to block the EU's latest efforts, people
close to the talks said, while Poland and the Czech Republic now
back a deal with Cuba.
TRANSITION
In a sign of impatience with the status quo, the Netherlands sent
its foreign minister to Havana in January. This first such trip by
the Dutch since the 1959 Cuban Revolution broke with EU policy to
limit high-level visits.
Spain, the former colonial power in Latin America and the Caribbean,
has also been pushing for a change of approach since ailing,
long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro handed power to his younger
brother Raul in 2008.
[to top of second column] |
Some EU countries see the 1996 "common position" policy as outdated
because 18 EU governments have bilateral agreements with Cuba
outside the common position, making it hard for the bloc to speak
with one voice.
Still, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has been
adamant that the "common position" will remain for the time being
while the European Commission, the EU executive, negotiates the
cooperation pact.
"If Europe wants to have a presence when there's a transition in
Cuba, the EU has to start working now. It's right to start dialogue
now so that Europe isn't absent when a transition happens," said
Carlos Malamud, head of Latin American research at the Real
Instituto Elcano, a think-tank in Madrid.
A cooperation pact, which the EU has used as a tool in the past to
strengthen relations with Central America and Asia, is not likely to
increase trade greatly because Cuba sells very little to Europe.
Besides cigars and rum, Cuba's exports are not of huge interest to
the EU, but Brussels believes developing business ties is the best
way to press for change in Cuba.
The European Union is Cuba's biggest foreign investor and Cuba's
second biggest trading partner after Venezuela, and a third of the
tourists to the island every year come from the EU.
Cuba recently opened a Chinese-style special economic zone and is
preparing a new foreign investment law. It is seeking foreign
investment at its port facilities in Mariel Bay to take advantage of
the expansion of the Panama Canal.
(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Mark Heinrich)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
