No change in EU stance on Cuba Spanish minister

No change in EU stance on Cuba: Spanish minister
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22/04/2006

There is no prospect of the European Union changing its attitude towards
Cuba, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Saturday.

"A reverse in the EU's policy is unthinkable," he said in an interview
with the conservative daily newspaper ABC.

"But Cuba should take into account that it has to go further and that if
it makes a positive gesture, we shall be able to improve its relations
with the EU.

The "Cuba-- democracy now" movement has been calling for the resignation
of Moratinos. It is made up of dissident and exiled Cubans in Europe and
has condemned the Spanish socialist government's pursuit of a "strategy
doomed to failure".

"Repression has increased and so has the number of political prisoners,"
it said in a statement.

Since taking office in 2004 the government has called for the lifting of
diplomatic sanctions imposed by the EU a year earlier in response to the
jailing of 75 dissidents.

At the time Spanish conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar was in
power and urged the imposition of the measures.

In June the EU is due to reexamine the sanctions, renewed on a
six-monthly basis.

"We are in contact with the Cuban authorities to see if we can improve
global relations," Moratinos said, hinting that the issue might be
discussed at the fourth EU-Latin America summit due to take place in
Vienna on May 11 and 12.

"We shall see how things turn out at the Vienna meeting," Moratinos
said, arguing that the socialist government's attitude towards Cuba
since it took office had produced "better results" than that of its
predecessor.

"What more we can get will depend on dilaogue and working together."

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