One year after the last debate in a plenary session of the European Parliament on the political and economic situation in Cuba (see EUROPE 13635/9), MEPs have broadly reaffirmed the same positions on how the European Union should position itself.
Referring to a crisis on the Caribbean island that is “more severe every day”, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, called on the Cuban authorities to immediately launch a process of political and economic reforms, failing which the regime inherited from the Castro period risks “collapsing”, in her view. “The EU’s position is clear: Havana should end the political repression and its uncompromising grip on the economy that is holding the country back”, she said.
Ms Kallas referred to increased EU humanitarian support for the Cuban population, which is facing many shortages in the energy, food and health sectors (see EUROPE 13841/17). However, as was the case a year ago, she did not call for the bilateral cooperation agreement between the EU and Cuba to be reviewed owing to the persistent human rights violations.
On the right of the political spectrum, the suffering of Cubans is seen as being due solely to the Cuban regime, which tramples on individual freedoms and is suffocating the economy. According to Hermann Tertsch (PfE, Spanish), the only way to shorten this suffering is to bring down the regime “through North American intervention”.
In addition to an economic embargo directly targeting Cuba for 66 years, the United States precipitated the fall of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in early 2026, resulting in the removal of significant oil supplies to Cuba, thereby worsening the crisis on the island.
On the left of the hemicycle, Leire Pajín (S&D, Spanish) called both for the United States to put an end to its policy of “coercion” towards Cuba and for the Cuban regime to “move forward, once and for all, on democratic reforms”, by freeing all political prisoners.
To MEPs speaking about human rights, Danilo Della Valle (The Left, Italian) asked why they are not calling for the suspension of the association agreement between the EU and Israel. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)