Brussels, 23/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The request made by the Cuban authorities to see Union cooperation with their country cease has, at this stage, only had a slight impact on the projects financed by the European Commission and implemented on the ground. According to Jean-Charles Ellerman Kingombe, Spokesman for Poul Nielson, Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, "out of the list of six projects mentioned by Cuba in its correspondence of 28 August addressed to the Commission delegation in La Havana, only one was in progress and it is therefore the only one that has been suspended". The project, known as DEADE, was on the training of Cuban executives by European business schools with a view to promoting Cuba's transition to another economic model. All the other projects were only at the programming stage. Jean-Charles Ellerman confirmed, on the other hand, that the only humanitarian activity in favour of Cuba and implemented by ECHO (the Community's Humanitarian Office) - a programme for preparing local communities to defend themselves against hurricanes - was continuing with a budget of EUR 500,000.
"At the moment, discussions are in progress at the Council for determining what will come out of the Cuban decision. The Commission, for its part, is still in favour of maintaining political dialogue with Cuba and considers that the presence of its delegation in La Havana is more important than ever", the spokesperson added.