Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-15-Speech-4-204"
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"en.20011115.11.4-204"2
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"Mr President, our initial reaction is to express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and their countrymen, but we must also immediately re-state our commitment to show solidarity with the affected countries, taking care that this solidarity is shown through immediate, generous and effective action.
The principal role was initially taken by our own European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and it appears that the Commission acted with the necessary speed by means of this office. But the action of the European Union should not stop at this point and we should make a significant contribution to the reconstruction of everything which has been destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Michelle.
A large proportion of our efforts will be included within the Reconstruction Plan for Central America and within the framework of the Union’s agreements with Honduras and with Nicaragua. This is where we fall down, due to the pitiful lack of a similar agreement with the Republic of Cuba. This is something that we are continually denouncing here in this House. It makes no sense that Cuba, for whom, amongst other things, the Member States of the European Union include their main economic, commercial and tourism partners, should be the only country in Latin America with which the European Union has not signed a cooperation agreement. For this reason, at the present time, the European Union is restricted to acting almost exclusively within the field of humanitarian and emergency aid.
We in this House would ask the Commission to show a high degree of flexibility when considering the suitability of projects which, in addition to this type of aid, also contribute to surmounting the damage and helping with the reconstruction of those sectors that have been most affected on the island by the effects of the hurricane.
It is vital that we revise the European Union’s common position on Cuba, which today is obsolete and even counterproductive, with a view to achieving the objectives that should have been pursued in 1996 when it was established, that is to say, the progress and prosperity of the Cuban people. I would also have preferred that the paragraph added by the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats had requested the same from Cuba as is requested from other countries with which the European Union cooperates. In any case, I do not think that the situation in Cuba is as gloomy as those who are determined to criticise that country would have us believe.
Mr President, we hope that the dialogue, without preconditions and without the exclusion of any particular subject from the agenda, that appears to have been re-initiated with the meeting this Monday in New York between the President of the Council and the Cuban Chancellor, will soon bear fruit and led to the signing of a cooperation treaty that will benefit Cuba and that will allow the European Union to act under normal conditions, with a greater degree of efficiency and with more influence in their relations with this country."@en1
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