EU Official on the Changes in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union (EU), Catherine Ashton, said today that Cuba has made “positive changes” and others “not so positive” and that European Union continues to explore the possibilities of modifying its common position on the island.

“It’s about seeing if there is a time to reach out and receive the right answer,” said Ashton, at a forum in Madrid with the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, reported DPA news.

“It is important to analyze, explore and see if there are changes that allow us to support countries to move faster towards democracy”, she added. Aston is also the vice president of the European Commission.

Since 1996 the EU has maintained a common position on Cuba, which conditions improving relations to changes in democracy and human rights on the island. Raul Castro’s government rejects the common position policy as “unilateral and interventionist”, and considers it an obstacle to the normalization of relations.

During the conference in the Spanish capital, Ashton said without elaborating that in Cuba “some interesting developments and positive changes in the legal system” can be seen, as well as “some not so positive.”

See explained that is the Council on Foreign Relations of the European Union that will decide when it is time to change the common position.

Also, with regard to Venezuela, Ashton said it’s important to continue “talking and reaching out.”