EU Aims for ‘More Fluid Dialogue’ with Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — The new European Union representative in Cuba, Herman Portocarero, said on Tuesday in Brussels that he “hopes” that dialogue with Havana in the coming years “can be more fluid,” reported EFE.

“Based on the current Common Position, we are going to see how to evolve a negotiated agreement with Cuba and under what conditions,” the diplomat told reporters after appearing for the first time before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, which is now in session behind closed doors.

Portocarero said that whether or not to lift the current “Common Position” of the EU “is a political decision of the EU member states alone,” but he acknowledged that “there has been change in Cuba since the ‘90s.”

Instituted in 1996, the “Common Position” requires the Cuban government to make progress on democratic and human rights, as well as the release of all political prisoners.