A4-0312/95

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the relations between the European Union and Cuba (COM(95)0306 - C4-0298/95)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament (COM(95)0306 - C4-0298/95),

- having regard to its resolution of 15 December 1988 on the current situation in Cuba, particularly as regards human rights ((OJ C 12, 16.1.1989, p. 155.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 16 September 1993 on the embargo against Cuba and the Torricelli Act ((OJ C 268, 4.10.1993, p. 153.)),

- having regard to its resolutions of 11 March 1993 on the human rights situation in Cuba ((OJ C 115, 26.4.1993, p. 152.)) and 10 February 1994 on Pablo Reyes Martínez, Cuban prisoner of conscience ((OJ C 61, 28.2.1994, p. 180.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 29 September 1994 on the situation in Cuba ((OJ C 305, 31.10.1994, p. 92)),

- having regard to the Declaration on the Helms-Burton Bill annexed to the Final Act of the XII EU/Latin America Interparliamentary Conference,

- having regard to the oral report submitted by the Cuban Democratic Platform on 19 July 1995 in Brussels to the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central America and Mexico,

- having regard to the conclusions of the European Council held in Madrid on 15/16 December 1995,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy and the opinions of the Committee on External Economic Relations and the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A4-0312/95),

A. having regard to the fact that since 1991, Cuba has ceased to be in receipt of subsidies estimated at five billion dollars per annum previously provided by the Soviet Union, and to the effects of the collapse of COMECON in 1989 on the Cuban economy, which suffered a 75% reduction in its exports and imports between 1989 and 1993 and a serious deterioration in the living standards of its people, from which it has only minimally recovered,

B. fully accepting and respecting the right of the Cuban people to maintain their independence and national sovereignty,

C. whereas national sovereignty rests in the people and is legitimately expressed only by means of free and regular elections,

D. anxious that racial equality, the rights of women, the high level of literacy, the establishment of a publicly provided health service, low infant mortality and high life expectancy, which compare favourably with their equivalents in other developing countries, should be maintained, and that serious problems such as the lack of educational pluralism, freedom to teach and freedom of expression should be corrected,

E. recognising the urgent need for Cuba to establish a new political and economic relationship with the rest of the world, including the European Union,

F. believing profoundly that the full observation, maintenance and promotion of human rights and democratic principles are essential for the development of relations between the European Union and Cuba,

G. taking the view that Cuba needs to take decisive steps towards the democratization of its political system, beginning with the release of all prisoners of conscience and the establishment of a legislative framework which fully respects national sovereignty and involves the whole of the Cuban people,

H. recalling that thousands of people have fled from Cuba on rafts at peril to their lives,

I. deploring the persecution of groups of people considered undesirable by the regime, such as homosexuals,

J. convinced that appropriate positive action by the European Union will assist the realisation of these objectives,

K. having regard to the numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly condemning the US embargo against Cuba and to the UN resolution and the agreements adopted by the Latin-American Summit in Bariloche in 1995 on the US embargo against Cuba,

L. taking note of the fact that the economic and financial embargo of Cuba by the United States for the past 34 years, not forgetting the attempted invasion, has not achieved its objective of forcing change and believing that attempts to isolate and strengthen the boycott, though affecting standards of life adversely, will hinder rather than hasten reforms,

M. noting that the Cuban authorities have taken a number of steps to liberalize the economy including reform of the law on foreign investment (resulting in the initiation of over 200 joint ventures with business partners from abroad), business restructuring, technological conversions, decentralization, creation of agricultural co-operatives and the formulation of proposals for banking reforms,

N. further noting that the Cuban authorities allowed a visit by the French NGO, France-Liberté, to inspect and report on the plight of political prisoners and a number, including Sebastian Arcos, founder of the Comité pro-Derechos Humanos de Cuba, have been released, although many prisoners of conscience remain in prison, according to reports by Amnesty International, Democracia Cristiana, the Cuban Human Rights Committee, the UN Commission on Human Rights, Americas Watch and other reliable sources,

O. taking into account that since the collapse of the eastern bloc, the EU has become Cuba's most important source of aid, accounting for around 75% of all aid since 1980, reaching ECU 14 million in 1994, and that much of the rest comes from Austria, Finland and Sweden, which joined the EU at the beginning of 1995,

P. whereas Cuba's external debt, added to the smallness of the amount of international aid, makes this country's transition to a market economy difficult,

Q. whereas the European Union is Cuba's main trading partner, main investor and main donor of aid and whereas economic and commercial relations between the European Union and Cuba are not commensurate with their mutual potential,

R. taking into account the fact that Cuba is now the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean region with which the European Union has not concluded a commercial treaty or cooperation agreement, while the majority of the Member States maintain economic relations with Cuba as well as bilateral agreements and that, although the EU maintains normal diplomatic relations with Cuba and the country benefits from and applies the EU's GSP, the specific political circumstances set out above mean that no contractual framework exists for institutionalizing relations between the parties,

1. Welcomes the Commission's communication on condition that it leads to a dialogue with Cuba which will allow a contractual framework to be established which is compatible with European Union doctrine on cooperation, respect for human rights and democracy and which must include the holding of free elections;

2. Welcomes the steps taken by some Member States recently to strengthen economic and political relations with Cuba;

3. Believes that dialogue is the most positive means of encouraging evolution in Cuba towards the achievement of those political and economic changes which will enable the country fully to integrate itself into the international community;

4. Recognises that it is for the Cuban people, whether they live on the island or abroad, to come to their own decisions on the political and economic system that they desire, provided that internationally held values, which are common to us all, are fully respected;

5. Considers that the dialogue between the EU and Cuba may have a positive influence on the political and economic reforms, recognizing that it is for the Cubans who live on the island and abroad to decide about its political future;

6. Urges changes designed to bring the Cuban Penal Code into conformity with the principles recognised in the Declaration adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993;

7. Considers that the EU must support the democratization process in Cuba at all levels and calls on the Cuban authorities to reconsider the cases of all the prisoners sentenced for political offences;

8. Welcomes the organisation of meetings and conferences between Cubans at home and abroad which seek to encourage mutual understanding and the resolution of differences which divide them, hopes that they will continue to take place on a regular basis and expresses its wish to see them extended to representatives of the political parties and human rights groups which exist underground in Cuba, and to those groups in exile which stand for democratic pluralism;

9. Recognizes that the difficulties in replacing the central command economy with a social market economy are likely to be more intense without international assistance, which must be directed mainly through private investment and non-governmental organisations so as to benefit the Cuban people;

10. Calls on the Member States to consider measures to reduce or cancel the debt which Cuba owes them, in particular by launching programmes to convert debt into own resources in the areas of joint ventures, the environment, vocational and business training and social programmes;

11. Welcomes the measures taken by the Cuban authorities which aim to initiate an economic opening but insists that they must be accompanied by firm and resolute steps towards a rapid political opening, guaranteeing the achievements made in the social sphere by Cuban society over the last few years;

12. Calls on the Commission to provide Cuba with technical assistance in introducing new institutional and structural measures which are essential to ensure the success of the economic reforms now under way;

13. Recommends to the Commission that it comply with the request of the Centre for European Studies in Havana to be granted the status of 'European Documentation Centre', in recognition of the good work done by the Centre in the fields of information and documentation, especially in collaboration with IRELA;

14. Upholds the right of Cuban workers to exercise their right to strike, to set up independent trade unions and to enter into direct contractual relations with employers instead of having to use official intermediaries;

15. Upholds the right of European entrepreneurs to develop legitimate trading relations, to conduct business operations in Cuba and with Cuban partners and to take advantage of commercial opportunities as they arise without interference from any third party, but insists that European participation in economic reform and reconstruction should pay attention to the prevention of the loss of jobs;

16. Also calls for equality of treatment for Cuban businessmen compared with foreign businessmen when staff are being taken on;

17. Underlines the need to diversify agricultural production in order to favour balanced food self-sufficiency and asks the Commission to concentrate its financing on those SMEs and NGOs involved in ecological agricultural projects and commit itself to controlling the export of pesticides;

18. Welcomes the initiatives to build up sustainable small-size energy projects, e.g. solar energy projects, and invites the Commission to take part in the financing of these projects;

19. Draws attention to the prospects for and the problems of the expansion of traditional forms of tourism; stresses that promotion of this economic activity should always endeavour to avoid damage to the environment;

20. Believes that it is essential to increase humanitarian and food aid, as well as those projects directly linked to support for reforms leading to greater respect for the human, civil and political rights of Cubans, and the broadening of the sphere in which they operate, as well as the broadening of the free market economy and the work which the Cuban and European NGOs have been carrying out, in particular during the last few years, by regularizing the legal status of the NGOs working in Cuba in the interests of making their work more efficient;

21. Believes that humanitarian aid must be provided, wherever possible, through the NGOs belonging to Cuban civil society, preferably working in collaboration with NGOs established in Member States of the EU;

22. Believes that special attention should be paid to the development of Cuban civil society, supporting the work of NGOs and favouring their international contacts;

23. Reiterates its appeal to the United States not to implement measures designed to impose penalties on persons trading with Cuba, which in any case infringe international law and the standards laid down by the World Trade Organisation, and once again calls upon the United States authorities to end completely the economic embargo against Cuba;

24. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments of the Member States, the National Assembly of the Peoples Republic of Cuba, the President of the Cuban Council of State, the President of the Latin American Parliament, the President of the United States and the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress.