{"id":199842,"date":"2019-06-01T18:32:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T22:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=199842"},"modified":"2019-06-01T18:32:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T22:32:18","slug":"eu-calls-on-cuba-to-respond-to-helms-burton-act-with-greater-commercial-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/europe\/eu-calls-on-cuba-to-respond-to-helms-burton-act-with-greater-commercial-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"EU calls on Cuba to respond to Helms-Burton Act with greater commercial opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>European Union (EU)<\/span><\/a> advised Cuba on Friday to make out of the problem an opportunity and facilitate more trade and investment in the country, in the face of the recent strengthening of the U.S. embargo through the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which had been frozen for two decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Beyond looking at the past and criticizing the Helms-Burton Act, there is also an opportunity here to improve the security of investments, to facilitate trade and investments and there the European Union will be with you,” said the European ambassador to Cuba, Spaniard Alberto Navarro.<\/span><\/p>\n

The diplomat recommended this during a working meeting of the Cuban government with diplomats and European companies present on the island to reiterate the guarantees to <\/span>foreign investment<\/span><\/a> offered by the Cuban state, at a time of anxiety due to Washington\u2019s new measures of pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Navarro urged Havana “to look for the opportunity to improve the investment climate and to facilitate trade and investment, in these difficult times.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I have not seen any country emerge from underdevelopment through development aid and international solidarity…. The countries that thrive are thanks to trade opening and foreign investment…. It is a unique moment, an opportunity,” said the EU ambassador.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his opinion, “there are sufficient arguments for Cuba to understand that the countries with the greatest trade opening are the most prosperous in the world.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The EU has been one of the strongest detractors of the new U.S. sanctions against Cuba and opposes the recent activation of Title III of Helms-Burton Act, which allows Americans and Cuban-Americans to file lawsuits in that country\u2019s courts against companies benefitting from properties nationalized after the triumph of the Revolution (1959).<\/span><\/p>\n

Last May 2 the United States activated that provision that had remained suspended since its approval in 1996 and under which four lawsuits related to the expropriation of energy companies, ports and a hotel have been filed so far.<\/span><\/p>\n

The representative of Brussels in Havana reiterated the EU’s willingness to protect the interests of its businesspeople and considered that the U.S. legislation violates international law and seeks, ultimately, to “create confusion and discourage investment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Uni\u00f3n Europea proteger\u00e1 \u201ccon todos los medios\u201d a sus inversores en Cuba<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n