The second round of negotiations for a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Cuba will take place in Brussels on August 27 and 28, Europa Press reported.
The meeting will promote exchanges on a possible bilateral agreement based on political dialogue, cooperation and trade.
The talks will continue the “roadmap for negotiations and other organizational and communication aspects,” agreed during the first round of negotiations held in late April of this year in the capital of the island.
The understanding between Havana and Brussels would give legal support to bilateral relations and displace the so-called Common Position, a unilateral diplomatic instrument of the group of 28 European nations since 1996 that determines the tense state of relations between the two parties.
These approaches, scheduled for every two months at the Cuba and Europe venues alternately, are a result of a proposal from the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, on February 10 that Cuba accepted in March, with the shared purpose of starting a path towards normalization of relations.
After the first round of negotiations, representatives of the Island highlighted the constructive and positive nature of the same, as the European counterpart described as “very fruitful” the early exchanges, though they acknowledged persistent divergences in the political aspect.
“In the current context of major changes in Cuba’s modernization efforts there is a possible role for the European Union based on their own experiences (…) and opportunities for Cubans and Europeans in the strengthening of cooperation,” then said the Director General for the Americas of the European External Action Service, Christian Leffler.
The rounds of negotiations were held while remaining in force the common position adopted at the suggestion of Spanish president José María Aznar. The island is the only country in Latin America and one of the few in the world that doesn’t have a Political and Cooperation Agreement with the EU.
