EU geeft Cuba meer tijd voor dialoog met Katholieke kerk (en)
The European Union today postponed the adoption of conclusions on Cuba with the aim of 'giving reasonable time' to the dialogue which has recently been initiated between the island's authorities and the Catholic Church, the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, announced.
'The rotating Presidency of the Council has requested, given this new political and diplomatic context, that positions and conclusions not be adopted on this occasion,' the minister told the media after the External Relations Council held in Luxembourg.
In view of the conversations which have begun between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church, Spain believes it is appropriate to allow 'reasonable time to assess the outcomes in the coming weeks and months'.
Mr Moratinos said that the Spanish government 'is satisfied' that no decision has been adopted at this Council.
And he also stated that there is 'a mandate and a framework for dialogue... to be able to bring about the conditions to establish a new bilateral relationship between the European Union and Cuba, provided that... substantial progress is made with regard to human rights'.
Mr Moratinos said that he was 'convinced' that at the next meeting at which the matter will be discussed, in September, the ministers will 'go beyond the [current] Joint Position and begin to establish a new bilateral framework between the European Union and Cuba'.
The Spanish Presidency of the EU's initial proposal was to modify the joint position approved in 1996, since, in their opinion, it has not yielded the expected results, and to institute a new framework for bilateral relations which places equal emphasis on both the country's democratisation and on human rights.