International trends / Comment
The EU opens a new phase in its relations with Cuba
25/06/2008 By Francesc Bayo, Susanne Gratius
FloraG/Flickr
Alter a lengthy internal debate the EU decided, on 23 June 2008, to put an end to the sanctions against Cuba that were imposed in 2003 but have been suspended for the past three years. In so doing, the EU responded positively to a request from the government of Raul Castro and cleared the way for a political dialogue unhindered by previous conditions.
It is also hoped that, in the near future, it will be possible to re-establish the official cooperation that was frozen thanks to a unilateral decision by the then-President Fidel Castro in response to the European measures. Susanne Gratius y Francesc Bayo argue that the ball is now in the Cuban court to open a new era in a relationship that has, for the past 20 years, oscillated between friendliness and distance.
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Keywords
Cuba Democracy aid Democratic control Democratisation EU Foreign Policy European UnionRelated publications
- Common goals, different strategies? options for a transatlantic agenda on Cuba
- Cuba: between continuity and change
- Cuba: change and continuity in the 21st century
- Cuba: the end of an era
- Forum Spain-Cuba: Spanish Policy and the future of Cuba
- Helping Castro? EU and US policies towards Cuba
- The External Actors and Cuba after Fidel
Bio author: Francesc Bayo
Bio author: Susanne Gratius
PhD in Political Science by the University of Hamburg. Expert in Latin America.
