The European Union and Cuba signed a political accord on Monday that the EU hopes will position its companies for Cuba's transition to a more open economy and allow it to press for political freedoms on the island.

In the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the EU lifteds anctions on the communist-ruled island in 2008, the so-called political dialogue and cooperation agreement is the first accord between Cuba and the 28-nation bloc.

Although modest in scope, it follows more two decades of EU diplomacy to set out a framework for stronger ties and comes twoweeks after the death of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, whose imprisonment of dissidents long hampered better relations.

“We are starting to write a new chapter together,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at signing ceremony with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla in Brussels, along with EU foreign ministers and ambassadors.

Offering condolences for Castro's death, Mogherini said the European Union was moving closer to Cuba as it underwent"profound change". EU officials say the deal gives European diplomats and officials the right to raise human rights issues directly with Cuba and to gently press for reforms.

She said the bloc also repealed its “common position” policy on Cuba dating from 1996 that set human rights and democracy as conditions on improved economic relations and which Cuba saw as interference in its internal affairs.

Rodriguez said the agreement would develop commercial,cultural, financial and scientific links across the Atlantic,saying the accord the proof both sides could “rise above our differences” and return to “mutual respect".

Normalization of relations has been tortuous partly because of resistance from the EU's eastern members due to their own communist past, while Havana's arrest of dissidents in 2003 led the bloc to impose diplomatic sanctions, limiting contacts.

The EU's strategy has been less trumpeted that Barack Obama's push for better ties with Havana, which culminated in his historic visit this year, the first by a U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years.

But EU officials say that given the United States economic embargo on Cuba since 1962 remains in place, Europe's new accord may do far more to end the island's isolation, with the EU already the top foreign investor in Cuba.

Rodriguez and Mogherini, at a joint news conference,dismissed any risk to the agreement following the U.S. election victory of Donald Trump, who has threatened to reverse Obama's easing of travel and other restrictions on Cuba.

“EU-Cuba relations do not go via Washington,” Rodriguez said. </s> BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Cuba signed a first-ever agreement on closer ties on Monday, and vowed that the arrival in office of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump would not impact on their future relations.

“This is a historic day, we’ve turned a page. Today we’re starting to write together a new chapter,” said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as the 28-nation EU’s top diplomats and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez signed the pact in Brussels.

The accord, aimed at supporting economic development and promoting democracy and human rights on the island, will form the legal platform for future ties between Brussels and Havana. The EU’s official stance toward Cuba dates from 1996.

Rodriguez said the priority would be to develop the Cuban economy, but he noted “one major obstacle to trade relations between the EU and Cuba” — the U.S. economic and financial blockade.

“We’ll have to see how things develop. But we very much hope that relations between the European Union and Cuba will continue to grow and enrich both sides,” he said, adding that ties “between the EU and Cuba do not go by Washington.”

Mogherini said the agreement is the result of a long process and that Trump’s inauguration in January “will not affect in any way relations between the European Union and Cuba.”

She also underlined that “the European Union has raised concerns about the extraterritorial effect of U.S. sanctions on Cuba. We will continue to do so because we believe that this is not only in the interest of the island and its people — all of them — but most of all in our case, it’s in the interest of Europeans to tackle this issue.”

Cuba puts the total cost of the 55-year-old embargo at $125.9 billion, including $4.6 billion last year.

The new pact must now be ratified by national and regional parliaments in all EU member states before it can enter completely into force, although the bloc has decided to provisionally apply parts of it immediately. </s> BRUSSELS: The EU and Cuba on Monday signed a deal to normalize ties that had been blocked for decades by human rights concerns under revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.

Cuba had been the only Latin American country that did not have a so-called “dialogue and cooperation” deal with the EU covering issues such as trade, human rights and migration.

But EU ministers last week agreed to drop a policy in place since 1996 which stated that Cuba first had to improve its human rights standards before getting closer links with the bloc.

The new agreement was signed by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the 28 EU member states at a Brussels ceremony capping years of difficult negotiations.

“Economic links with Europe will continue to be a priority for Cuba as we build a socialist economy,” Parrilla said.

Castro died last month after more than 50 years at the helm of a self-styled Socialist paradise reviled by the West, with Cuba gradually opening up to the world, including bitter foe Washington.

In 2003, the EU had imposed sanctions on Cuba and suspended cooperation over a crackdown on journalists and activists and it took until 2008 to get talks going again.

Parrilla said the agreement “demonstrates that with good will and respect it is possible to make progress and resolve differences.”

He recalled a speech in 2003 in which Fidel Castro had hailed the historical importance of the EU as a counterweight to the United States which imposed a damaging trade embargo and other sanctions on Cuba after it sided with Moscow in the Cold War.

“The sovereignty and dignity of a people cannot be up for negotiation with anyone,” he said. AFP </s> Brussels (AFP) - The European Union and Cuba on Monday signed a deal to normalise ties that had been blocked for decades by human rights concerns under revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.

Cuba was the only Latin American country not to have a "dialogue and cooperation" deal with the 28-nation EU covering issues such as trade, human rights and migration.

But EU ministers last week dropped a policy in place since 1996 which stated that Cuba first had to improve its human rights record before getting closer links with the bloc.

Monday's accord was signed by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the EU member states at a Brussels ceremony capping years of difficult negotiations.

Mogherini offered condolences on Castro's death, telling reporters it was "only natural that we are closer to Cuba as it undergoes profound change."

She said she was also "very encouraged" by dialogue with Havana on human rights and the accord would help foster Cuba's social and political modernisation.

Castro died last month after more than 50 years at the helm of a self-styled Socialist paradise reviled by the West, with Cuba gradually opening up to the world, including bitter foe Washington.

In 2003, the EU imposed sanctions on Cuba and suspended cooperation over a crackdown on journalists and activists and it took until 2008 to get talks going again.

- Trump election, no impact -

Rodriguez Parrilla said "we have had a few differences on the way but the removal of the (1996 EU) common position re-establishes normal relations based on mutual respect."

Asked what impact Donald Trump's election might have on US policy, he noted angrily that despite easing tensions, Washington had kept its economic embargo against Cuba.

"EU-Cuba relations do not go via Washington," he added.

Mogherini said she saw no reason for concern although Trump's shock election victory has stoked doubts in Europe about Washington's global stance and its crucial security guarantee.

"Developments in Washington will not affect in any way relations between the EU and Cuba," she said, stressing Brussels had and would continue to raise concerns about the impact of the US economic blockade on other countries.

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She also highlighted Europe's wider ties with the region as a whole.

"We are talking about a transatlantic link not only with the United States, but also with Cuba and Latin America."

On the campaign trail, Trump had threatened to end the thaw in US ties backed by President Barack Obama unless Havana made concessions on human rights and opened up its still largely state-run economy to private business.

"Economic links with Europe will continue to be a priority for Cuba as we build a socialist economy," Rodriguez Parrilla said at the signing ceremony.

He recalled a speech in 2003 in which Castro hailed the historical importance of the EU as a counterweight to the United States which imposed the trade embargo and other sanctions on Cuba after it sided with Moscow in the Cold War. </s> UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday abstained for the first time from a United Nations General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, after opposing such measures every year for 24 years.

For the 25th time, the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favor. Israel, which opposed the resolution last year, also abstained on Wednesday. Such resolutions are non-binding, but can carry political weight.

Communist-run Cuba and the United States, former Cold War foes, began normalizing relations in 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama has taken steps to ease trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo.

The Republican-controlled Congress has resisted Obama’s call to lift Washington’s economic embargo after more than 50 years. Republican critics say Obama is making too many concessions to Cuba for too little in return, especially on human rights.

The U.N. General Assembly applauded when U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power announced prior to the vote that the United States would abstain.

“Abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not,” Power told the General Assembly.

“We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people,” she said.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a “positive step for the future of improving relations between the United States and Cuba.”

Rodriguez said in September that damage from U.S. sanctions between April 2015 and March 2016 amounted to $4.6 billion and to $125.9 billion since the embargo’s inception more than 50 years ago.

A vintage car passes by the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

In March, Obama made the first visit to Havana by a U.S. president in 88 years. His trip was made possible by his breakthrough agreement with Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 to cast aside decades of hostility that began soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

Since the opening, Obama has repeatedly used his executive powers to relax trade and travel restrictions, while pushing Cuba to accelerate market-style reforms and boost political and economic freedoms.

The U.N. resolution adopted on Wednesday takes note of the steps taken by Obama as positive but “still limited in scope.” It urges the United States to repeal or invalidate the embargo on Cuba as soon as possible. </s> WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday moved to cement his administration’s historic opening with Cuba by issuing a sweeping directive that will last beyond his presidency, setting forth a new United States policy to lift the Cold War trade embargo and end a half-century of clandestine plotting against Cuba’s government.

The action formalizes the shift toward normalization that the president unveiled nearly two years ago with the announcement that he and President Raúl Castro of Cuba had secretly agreed to repair their countries’ relationship.

Mr. Obama on Friday also made what aides said were likely his final major modifications to loosen United States sanctions on Cuba before leaving office, including lifting the $100 limit on bringing Cuban rum and cigars into the United States.

It is Mr. Obama’s latest use of executive power to press forward in the face of lingering opposition in Congress to repealing the embargo, this time through a 12-page document that essentially transforms what has been a presidential priority into a set of official mandates that will shape United States policy toward Cuba for decades. </s> UNITED NATIONS -- The U.S. abstained Wednesday for the first time in 25 years on a U.N. resolution condemning the United States' economic embargo against Cuba, a measure it always had vehemently voted against.

The U.S. was joined in abstaining by Israel, the only other country to vote against the embargo resolution in the General Assembly last year. When the vote -- 191-0 with two abstentions -- was shown on the electronic board, diplomats from the 193 U.N. member states burst into applause.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power announced the abstention just before the vote, saying that the U.S. policy of isolation toward Cuba had "isolated the United States, including here at the United Nations."

"After 55-plus years of pursuing the path of isolation, we are choosing to take the path of engagement," she said.

Each year, the U.N. General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to urge the United States to end its economic embargo of the island. In 2015, the vote was 191-2, with only Israel joining in a vote against the measure.

The U.S. decision to change its vote comes after President Barack Obama's restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and his support for lifting the embargo, which the Republican-led Congress is against.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced Dec. 17, 2014, that they were restoring diplomatic ties, which were broken in 1961 after Fidel Castro took power and installed a communist government. On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations were restored and embassies of the two countries were reopened, but serious issues remain, especially the U.S. call for human rights on the Caribbean island and claims for expropriated property.

The U.S. abstention in the General Assembly vote was certain to anger both Republican and Democratic opponents of lifting the 55-year-old embargo, but it reflects Obama's belief shortly before he leaves office that it's time to move ahead in normalizing U.S.-Cuban ties.

Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the last speaker before the vote, said Cuba is "grateful" for Power's efforts and words and thanked her for the U.S. abstention.

"A change in vote by the United States is a promising signal," he said. "We hope it will be reflected in reality."

Rodriguez said the embargo, calling it a "flagrant violation of international law," is still in force and being implemented by U.S. agencies, and while the executive measures taken by Obama were positive, they have "very limited scope and effect."

"The president of the United States has ample executive prerogatives that he has not fully used, as he could still do to substantially modify the practical implementation of the blockade and its economic and humanitarian impact," he said. "Lifting the blockade is the key to be able to advance towards the normalization of relations with the United States. ... The blockade is unjust, inhuman, immoral and illegal and should unilaterally and unconditionally cease."

Obama has called on lawmakers to lift the sanctions. But while several bills have been introduced to do that, Congress has not acted. Some members have objected that despite increasing normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, the island's government continues to violate the human rights of its citizens with political arrests and other restrictions.

Indeed, there were immediate protests in the U.S. Congress.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez from New Jersey, the son of Cuban immigrants, tweeted that the U.S. decision not to defend the "long-standing, bipartisan, human rights-based US law ... is shameful." Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted that the act that imposed sanctions on Cuba "isn't a 'failed policy' ... [and] is the law of the United States, which should always be defended and upheld."

U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and Sen. Marco Rubio, all Republicans from Florida, also blasted the abstention, saying the Obama administration had failed to honor and defend U.S. laws in an international forum.

Diaz-Balart said the U.S. should stand in solidarity with the Cuban people, "rather than siding once again with their oppressors." Rubio accused the United Nations of giving "voice and legitimacy" to America's adversaries.

"It's no surprise the United Nations would endorse economic concessions to the Castro regime," Rubio said. "But it is shameful for the Obama administration to refuse to abide by existing U.S. law and to dismiss the will of the American people."

Mauricio Claver-Carone, executive director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, a political action committee, called it "perhaps the most egregious breach" of Obama's constitutional responsibilities and oath of office.

Those working to lift the embargo said the vote acknowledged that the "obsolete" policy had no place in international affairs.

"As Cuba continues to play a growing and constructive global role, our policy of isolation not only weakens our international credibility but threatens our national security, as well as our economic and human-rights interests in the region and around the world," said James Williams, the president of Engage Cuba, a coalition of people and organizations working to lift the embargo.

General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding and unenforceable. But the 25-year-old exercise in which the world body has overwhelmingly voted to condemn the embargo does reflect world opinion and has given Cuba a global stage to demonstrate the United States' isolation on its Cuba policy.

A U.N. report estimated that the embargo has inflicted more than $1 trillion in accumulated economic damage over more than 50 years.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called the embargo the "most unjust, severe and long-lived system" of sanctions ever applied against a country.

Before the vote, more than 20 speakers from all over the world denounced the embargo and urged the U.S. Congress to quickly lift the ban on trade and financial dealings.

The U.S. administration had considered abstaining from the vote a year ago, but concluded it could not do so because the resolution did not reflect what it considered to be the spirit of engagement between Obama and Raul Castro.

Power made clear that the United States "categorically" rejects statements in Wednesday's resolution suggesting the embargo violated international law.

She also said that abstaining "does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not.

"We are profoundly concerned by the serious human-rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people."

She cited Cuba's detention of government critics, threats and intimidation of participants in peaceful marches and meetings, and severe restrictions on outside information.

But the United States and Cuba, she said, "must continue to find ways to engage, even as our differences persist. Today, we have taken another small step to be able to do that. May there be many more -- including, we hope, finally ending the U.S. embargo."

In Havana, Cuba organized a vote-watching party on the campus of the University of Havana, where students and government supporters followed the events on an hourslong special live state news broadcast projected onto a giant screen.

The tone of the coverage was triumphant, calling the U.S. abstention a historic victory for Cuba but cautioning that it was meaningless without congressional action.

"The blockade is still in force but this means that there's been a change in attitude at the highest levels of U.S. government and politics," said Raul Palmeiro, a 21-year-old law student and president of the university's official Student Federation.

Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer, Matthew Lee, Josh Lederman and Michael Weissenstein of The Associated Press; by Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post; and by Franco Ordonez of Tribune News Service. </s> Yesterday’s U.N. General Assembly vote was the 25th time Cuba has marshaled international support against the embargo and Cuba usually wins overwhelming support for a resolution which is non-binding, President of the Guyana-Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) Haleem Khan said.

 He explained that U.S. sanctions cost Cuba over $4.6 billion last financial year.

 He joined the call on U.S. President Barack Obama to do more to ease the pressure in the spirit of improved relations between the two countries.

 “The blockade is the main cause of the economy’s problems and obstacle to development,” Khan asserted.

 Khan noted that since Presidents Obama and Raul Castro stunned the world in December 2014 by announcing they would work to normalize relations, the Cold War foes have opened embassies, restored commercial flights, opened travel options and negotiated agreements on issues affecting the environment, law enforcement, the postal service and communications.

 Obama, who visited Cuba earlier this year, has also gradually poked holes in the embargo through executive orders.

 More than 100 U.S. business delegations have visited Cuba since 2014 and around 300,000 Americans are expected to arrive this year under looser travel restrictions. U.S. telecommunications companies have signed roaming agreements, a Carnival cruise ship makes regular stops and a Havana hotel is under U.S. management.

 But many U.S. companies say the embargo makes business nearly impossible.

 Cuba and its people trust that they can count on the growing support of the international community in their legitimate claim to put an end to the blockade.

 “We need to have the 24 resolutions adopted by the international community at the UN General Assembly respected. By an overwhelming majority, the UNGA Member States ask for that absurd policy to be put to an end, along with respect for international law and the fulfillment of the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, the Guyana Solidarity President said “Therefore we invite the senators and representatives of the United States to take a historic step on the side of ethics, justice, freedom and peace, in voting to lift the blockade against Cuba, for the benefit of both peoples.” </s> On Wednesday, however, the US took the small but significant step of changing its vote to an abstention on the annual UN General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo of the island nation.

For 25 years, the US has been on the losing end of the lopsided, if legally non-binding, vote. Traditionally, only a handful of smaller nations side with the US. This time, the US and Israel alone abstained, while the 191 other UN member countries voted for the resolution. The measure calls on countries to repeal laws that restrict freedom of trade and navigation.

The biggest reason for the switch, of course, is the warming relations between the US and Cuba.

President Barack Obama is in favor of lifting the embargo entirely as part of the countries' rapprochement. But the US Congress is opposed, citing in particular Cuba's human rights violations. Still, the White House has been able to open up some avenues of exchange, including regular plane flights between the two countries, unthinkable only a few years ago. In March, President Obama made the first visit to Cuba by a sitting president since 1928. US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power drew cheers at the UN when she explained the US switch in position Wednesday. And a tweet from Power put it in simpler terms, noting that every year the UN votes to end the US embargo against Cuba. "We've always voted 'no.' Today, for the 1st time ever, we abstained," she tweeted. Obama administration officials said the abstention was due to the continued isolation of its island neighbor being harmful to the people of Cuba. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes tweeted there "is no reason to vote to defend a failed policy we oppose." U.S. President Barack Obama attends a baseball game in Havana, Cuba, with his family and Cuban President Raul Castro, right, on Tuesday, March 22. The Cuban national team was playing an exhibition against Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays. Obama is the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Obama waves to the crowd before delivering his speech at the Grand Theater in Havana on March 22. In his speech, Obama urged Cubans to look to the future with hope, casting his historic visit as a moment to "bury the last remnants of the Cold War in the Americas." First lady Michelle Obama and her daughter Malia stand with children of U.S. Embassy workers after dedicating a bench and two magnolia trees at a small park in Havana on March 22. The Obamas pose with Castro before a state dinner in Havana on Monday, March 21. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks with Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel ahead of the state dinner on March 21. Castro tries to lift up Obama's arm at the end of a joint news conference on March 21. Obama meets with Castro in Havana on March 21. Michelle Obama speaks with Cuban girls during a Let Girls Learn roundtable in Havana on March 21. Obama lays a wreath at the Jose Marti monument in Havana's Revolution Square on March 21. "It is a great honor to pay tribute to Jose Marti, who gave his life for independence of his homeland," Obama wrote after he laid the wreath. "His passion for liberty, freedom, and self-determination lives on in the Cuban people today." Backdropped by a monument depicting revolutionary hero Che Guevara, Obama listens to the U.S. national anthem during the wreath-laying ceremony on March 21. Obama and Castro review troops before bilateral meetings on March 21. Obama walks up the stairs of the Palace of the Revolution on March 21. Obama and members of the first family take a walking tour of a Havana cathedral on Sunday, March 20. The first family stops to look at a painting of Abraham Lincoln in the Museum of the City of Havana on March 20. Obama's convoy drives along the Malecon sea wall on March 20. The President and first lady greet families of embassy personnel on March 20. Obama and his family exit Air Force One on March 20. But Power still told the General Assembly that abstaining on the resolution didn't mean that Washington agrees with all the policies of the Cuban government. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla told the UN that despite progress between the two countries, the economic and financial blockade is seriously harming the Cuban people and hurting economic development. He added that lifting the embargo was the key to advancing towards normalized relations with the US. Power indicated Wednesday's abstention was a small step in efforts at further engagement with the Cuban people, even amidst the outstanding differences with the government. "May there be many more," she said, including "we hope, finally ending the embargo."
Cuba and the European Union sign an accord in Brussels to normalize relations, formally ending the Common Position which was adopted by the Council of the European Union in 1996.