{"id":12460,"date":"2014-02-11T08:17:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T08:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/eu-agrees-to-open-cuba-negotiations\/"},"modified":"2014-02-11T08:16:57","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T08:16:57","slug":"eu-agrees-to-open-cuba-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/eu-agrees-to-open-cuba-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Agrees to Open Cuba Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

{{The European Union has agreed to launch negotiations with Cuba aimed at restoring full bilateral relations with the Communist-run island.}}<\/p>\n

The talks, which could begin as soon as next month, will try to increase trade and investment, and include a dialogue on human rights, officials said.<\/p>\n

Since 1996, the EU has restricted its ties with Cuba to encourage multi-party democracy and progress on human rights.<\/p>\n

The bloc is Cuba’s second-biggest trading partner after Venezuela.<\/p>\n

It represents a major source of investment, and hundreds of thousands of European tourists visit the island every year.<\/p>\n

{{‘Vote of confidence’}}<\/p>\n

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed that human rights remained “at the core” of its dealings with Cuba.<\/p>\n

“These negotiations will help consolidate our engagement with Cuba,” she said. “I hope Cuba will take up this offer.”<\/p>\n

The announcement comes with Cuba engaged in an economic and social reform process launched by President Raul Castro.<\/p>\n

The EU ambassador to Havana, Herman Portocarero, said the talks came in response to “serious” changes in Cuba.<\/p>\n

“It is to some extent a vote of confidence in the reforms and that the new realities in Cuban society are irreversible, and that we want to be on board,” Mr Portocarero said.<\/p>\n

“We hope to promote a future model of Cuban society which is closer to European values.”<\/p>\n

But he added that the EU had a number of “red lines” in order for the relations to be normalised. These included such issues as human rights and the possibility for civil society groups to have legal status.<\/p>\n

The move indicates the most important diplomatic shift since the EU lifted sanctions against Cuba in 2008.<\/p>\n

It follows the visit by Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans to Cuba in January. During his trip, Mr Timmermans called on the EU to change its policy toward the island.<\/p>\n

He said the best way to promote change was through dialogue, not isolation.<\/p>\n

In 1996, the EU agreed on a set of rules governing its relations with Cuba, called the Common Position.<\/p>\n

It states that the EU’s objective is “to encourage a process of transition to a pluralist democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as sustainable recovery and improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people”.<\/p>\n

Despite the policy, more than half of EU member states have bilateral agreements with Cuba.<\/p>\n

Cuba has rejected the Common Position, arguing that it constitutes an interference in its internal affairs.<\/p>\n

{BBC}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{The European Union has agreed to launch negotiations with Cuba aimed at restoring full bilateral relations with the Communist-run island.}} The talks, which could begin as soon as next month, will try to increase trade and investment, and include a dialogue on human rights, officials said. Since 1996, the EU has restricted its ties with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000050273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000050273,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12460.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000050273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12460"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12460"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}