Cuba, European Union to sign new agreement for improved ties

Cuba, European Union to sign new agreement for improved ties
IANS Updated: Nov 3, 2016 13:04 IST

Havana: A new agreement that will open a new phase in the European
Union's (EU) relations with Cuba is tentatively scheduled to be signed
on 12 December, a senior diplomatic official has announced.
File image of Cuba's President Raúl Castro
The head of the 28-member bloc's delegation in Cuba, Herman Portocarero,
announced on Wednesday that date at a press conference during the 35th
Havana International Fair, saying the Political Dialogue and Cooperation
Agreement would substitute monologue for dialogue and establish a solid
legal basis for the overall relationship between the EU and Cuba, Efe
news reported.
From 1996 to the present, those relations have been governed by the
so-called "Common Position", adopted at the urging of then-Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
That policy makes improved ties between the bloc and Havana contingent
on democratisation and respect for human rights on the Communist-ruled
island while also encouraging direct contact between EU officials and
Cuban dissidents.
The agreement to be signed on 12 December in Brussels contains many more
subjects to be covered through dialogue, including in the areas of
politics and human rights, while also promoting society-to-society
dialogue, Portocarero said.
The EU and Cuba wrapped up negotiations on the new accord in March,
concluding a nearly two-year effort that coincided with the historic
normalisation of bilateral relations between the US and the Caribbean
island.
In September, the European Commission formally proposed that
member-states back the new political dialogue and cooperation agreement,
saying that once it is signed it will "become the instrument that
defines the EU's external relations with Cuba, superseding the 1996
Common Position."

Source: Cuba, European Union to sign new agreement for improved ties -
http://www.firstpost.com/world/cuba-european-union-to-sign-new-agreement-for-improved-ties-3086118.html