Washington and EU Face-to-Face with Cuba

The European Union’s decision to re-establish its relationship with Cuba is a sign of pragmatism, which leaves the U.S. policy of embargo and isolation toward the Caribbean country even more vulnerable.

At the end of a two-day meeting on Wednesday, April 30, representatives from the European bloc and Havana believed that their first round of talks had gone well. In these conversations, they agreed to a roadmap for a process that should lead to a cooperation framework agreement. “There was a clear interest on both sides to come to a quick, common understanding of what the bases are for this negotiation,” said Christian Leffler, the EU’s negotiator, to the press. A Cuban statement said that the exchanges were “constructive and positive” and will continue in Brussels. The EU’s efforts are an endorsement of the changes that Cuba put into place in 2008 and an endorsement that to the Europeans, these changes are more comprehensive than those that are part of the economic reform in the country.

The European organization wants Cuba to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, allow private enterprise, and restore its citizens’ rights to travel and own property and vehicles.

The 2011 decision by the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba [the governing party] to limit the period in principal state and government offices to two consecutive terms was equally relevant to the Europeans. The decree includes the position of President Raúl Castro, who will finish his second and final term of office in 2018. “Given the current changes and efforts Cuba is undertaking, the EU has an important role to play, based on its own experiences and opportunities for Cubans and Europeans in strengthening cooperation,” said Leffler [general director for America from the European Foreign Action Service].

He added that the [Cuban] Foreign Investment law, which will come into effect in July, will open up new opportunities for both Cuba and the EU.

Spain is the biggest European trading partner with Havana, with more than $1.156 million in trade in 2012. However, it was José María Aznar’s conservative Spanish government (1996-2004) that was the architect of the so-called “common position” on Cuba that the EU adopted in 1996, which Cuba saw as interference in its internal affairs. That topic was not on the table during the first round of talks. When asked by the International Press Service, Leffler, a Swede, also stated that the EU did not arrive at the talks with political conditions in mind. “We want to reach an agreement, and preconditions and impositions are not positive,” he said.

Disagreement between Brussels and Havana on fundamental freedoms became severe in 2003, as a result of the arrest of 75 political opponents by Cuba and the severe sentences that were imposed upon them.

However, in 2008, calm returned to the relationship, and the EU and Cuba agreed to renew political dialogue. In February of this year, they decided to open negotiations on a cooperation framework agreement. Where does this leave the United States?