Spain sidelines EU to agree talks with Cuba

Spain sidelines EU to agree talks with Cuba

Spain and Cuba will begin twice yearly talks on human rights, breaking
an EU freeze on relations with Havana.

The talks, will be the first regular dialogue between Cuba and an EU
member state on human rights since the EU froze contacts with Havana in
2003.

The EU broke contact following the arrest of 75 political dissidents,
and has been gradually reestablishing ties since January 2005, with a
number of EU ministers and the European development chief Louis Michel
visiting Havana.

The European commission applauded Spain's move, calling for the forum to
be enlarged to EU-level.

"We think that the current situation does not prevent engaging in a
EU-Cuba comprehensive dialogue", a commission spokesman said.

An EU-Cuba human rights forum is however a distant possibility in
Havana's eyes.

"To have [a human rights forum] with the EU, we would have to have
certain conditions in place," Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque
told El Mundo.

Roque was referring to remaining EU sanctions and a 1996 political
agreement between EU member states to promote human rights and democracy
in Cuba, which he believes must be scrapped.

The EU currently has €4.6m worth of projects running in Cuba, of which
most are managed by European NGOs, according to a commission spokesman.

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