Brussels, 07/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - It seems that by the end of this week the EU and Cuba could sign the bilateral association agreement for which negotiations were started in 2014.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will be visiting Havana on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 March to conduct a second political dialogue after that of April 2015 with the Cuban authorities, represented by the ministers for foreign affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, and for the economy, Marino Maurillo. Mogherini's visit is scheduled ten days before the visit of US President Barack Obama and should be the opportunity to finalise the bilateral negotiations.
“We hope that during Mogherini's visit the political conditions will exist so that we can conclude this agreement on political dialogue and cooperation”, said Cuba's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Abelardo Moreno, on Friday 4 March, at the end of the last session of bilateral negotiations, as reported by news agency DPA (see EUROPE 11502). According to Christian Leffler, who is steering the negotiations within the European External Action Service (EEAS) “the resolve exists on both sides to make significant and quick progress towards a future conclusion of the agreement”.
The future EU-Cuba agreement will comprise three sections - political, cooperation, and economic and trade. It ensures total respect of equality between sovereign states, guarantees the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs, and will contribute to accompanying Cuba in the process of updating its economic model, the Cuban foreign affairs minister stated in a press release.
On the thorny issue of human rights and democracy, the two partners will create a framework for conducting a specific dialogue. The signature of an association and cooperation agreement with Cuba will call into question the common position of December 1996, which subjects full cooperation with Cuba to improvement of its human rights and political freedoms situation. “Once we have an agreement, maintaining the common position will not have much sense any more”, Leffler stated. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)