14/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to a small group of journalists on 9 June in Brussels, at the invitation of former European Commissioner Pavel Telicka of the Czech Republic, Eduardo Perez Bengochea, a member of the Cuban opposition, called on the EU on behalf of the political coalition Todos Unidos composed of several dissident parties and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, to adopt a “completely new active and socially responsible policy toward Cuba”. The EU Member States must not tolerate violations of international working standards, he stressed, exclaiming that investors benefit from governmental aid to gain a foothold in Cuba, but do not comply with ILO rules! Returning to the lifting of EU sanctions applied since June 2003, Eduardo Perez said that a policy which reacts to advances made by Castro is not a good policy. An active and firm approach is needed, he added. (See EUROPE 8964 on the subject of the conference of the EPP-ED and ALDE Groups at the European Parliament).