Brussels, 07/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid, will make his first official visit to Cuba on 10 to 14 March. He will inaugurate the offices of the Commission's delegation to Havana, to be run by German Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, and meet a range of political figures- from President Fidel Castro to the dissident Osvaldo Paya- as well as representatives of Cuban civil society. The Commissioner will also visit co-operation projects funded by the EU. The future of co-operation between the EU and Cuba will be at the heart of the meetings to be held at a decisive moment, as Cuba has formally applied to join the Cotonou agreement, linking the EU to the ACP countries (African Caribbean and Pacific states).
Poul Nielson told the Brussels Press that Cuba's membership of this agreement should not pose the Commission any problems. "Since it applied in January 2003, Cuba has gone from informal observer status to that of a formal observer in all ACP/EU negotiations. The Commission will respond based on Article 94 of the Cotonou agreement defining eligibility criteria. It is a fairly simple procedure. We will have to see if the eligibility conditions are met. It should not be a problem. It is clear that Cuba falls under the heading of eligible countries. The next step is that the Member States take position", he stated. The Commission's proposal should be submitted to the Council in July. Answering a journalist who asked whether improved human rights in Cuba should be a pre-condition to membership, Mr Nielson referred "to the letter" of the Cotonou agreement, which makes political dialogue an adequate instrument to handling such questions, "which also crop up in certain ACP countries". He believed that the disagreements of past years had been fuelled by misunderstandings between the EU and Cuba, "each party accusing the other of imposing pre-conditions". "I do not wish to see the same mistake repeated", Mr Nielson declared, pointing out that as it stands, the framework for co-operation with Cuba is defined by the Council's common position. "Obviously I shall be discussing human rights and democracy with my opposite numbers, but also the modernisation of society to lead us into the 21st century", he added.
Since 1993, Community assistance to Cuba has approached 145 million euro (including 90 million in humanitarian aid. The humanitarian aid was replaced in 2002 by development aid for economic modernisation and reform, food safety, and the development of civil society, at a level of 15 to 20 million euro per annum.