Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-147"
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"en.20041116.12.2-147"2
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"Mr President, Cuba is clearly a very sensitive, as well as a very complex, subject, and I do of course agree with those who say that the European Union, and this Parliament in particular, should work for more democracy and respect for human rights across the world, and that is also true of Cuba.
The fundamental question we should be asking ourselves, though, is how we can best achieve this, how we can best help the Cuban people. Is it by rejecting dialogue with the Cuban authorities, and thus with a large majority of civil society? I do not think so. Yet that, today, is the reality of the situation on the ground. Since the channels of communication with the Europeans have been closed, the EU’s common position has produced no satisfactory results. An assessment is therefore in order, provided it is a rational one, and the common position may need to be adapted.
Indeed, along with a few other MEPs, I recently visited Cuba, and we were able to witness for ourselves a number of positive developments concerning education, for example, or health care. We ought to tell them this and we also ought to tell them that there are many aspects in Cuba we do not like at all, but at least we ought to strike up a dialogue, like we do with other countries including China, Saudi Arabia or Vietnam."@en1
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