EPP Group considers there are no reasons to change EU's policy towards the island

The EPP Group in the European Parliament held a seminar on the future of the EU's policy towards Cuba and the lack of respect of human rights in the island with the conclusion that there are not enough reasons to support any change of position.

"The invited panellists, as well as the EPP MEPs, agreed that the move to lift political sanctions imposed on Cuba did not bring satisfactory results. Any future EU decision on Cuba should go in line with progress in the human rights area", said EPP Group Member Jarosław Wałęsa MEP, who together with the Lech Wałęsa Institute organised the seminar.

Among the speakers were members of the EPP Group in the European Parliament - Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (PL), Jaime Mayor Oreja (ES), José Ignacio Salafranca (ES)-, Heidi Hautala (FIN) from the Green Group and EP Sakharov Prize winners - Blanca Reyes, Founder of the Ladies in White, and Francisco de Armas, representative of Oswaldo Payá, winner of the Sakharov Prize in 2002.

According to the latest Human Rights Watch report on Cuba (November 2009), the situation on the island is economically deteriorating and fundamental citizens rights are still disregarded. The Raúl Castro regime has introduced a new 'dangerousness' clause, which enables the state to imprison a citizen based on the assumption that one is likely to commit a crime.

"The EU's open approach towards Cuba and the lifting of sanctions in 2008 has not been backed by lifting the regime's oppression against its citizens. Perhaps the Union's policy should be similar to the one on Belarus - sanctions should be suspended under the condition of improvement in the human rights situation", said Jacek Saryusz-Wolski MEP, former Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament.

Jaime Mayor Oreja, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group, said that to change the EU's policy towards Cuban authorities will only mean "to support a dictatorship" as "there are no signals of a transition to a democratic regime in the island". "The international community will make a mistake", he stated. Instead, he proposed that the EU should firmly support the Cuban organisations that from inside the country, claim for the respect of Human Rights and defend the democratic values "because if a democratic transition finally takes place, it should be for the people of Cuba."