Brussels, 13/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel rekindled the political dialogue between the EU and Cuba, during a meeting this week in Brussels with the Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque. The Cuban minister told the press that Minister Louis Michel had declared that Belgian hopes to play a positive role during its term of Presidency, in order to rekindle political relations between the EU and Cuba. The Union is willing to examine the possibility of a cooperation agreement with Cuba, recalled the Belgian Presidency in a press release. In June, the General Affairs Council confirmed the common position on Cuba, which clearly links the prospects of an agreement to respect for human rights and democratic principles, conditions that Cuba refuses as it considers this tantamount to interference. Today, a majority of Member States, including Belgium, would nonetheless like to find a modus operandi to break the deadlock created by this position adopted in 1996 under the impetus of the Aznar government which had just come to power, and under the pressure of the United States then in full debate on application of the Helms-Burton Law. The Commission itself gave signs of openness when it announced the opening of representation in La Havana in 2002, at a time when several delegations in the Caribbean were closing. Commissioner Nielson also undertook to maintain aid to Cuba, in order to make up for the end of aid programmed by the ECHO office.