The European resolution was the subject of a tense debate during the day at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
It also “condemns in the strongest terms the violence and extreme repression” by the government “following the protests of July 11, 2021.”
European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson said that in the EU “we believe we need to keep talking. Our previous policy (towards Cuba), the Common Position of 1996, did not achieve any results.”
Also, the conservative MEP Dita Charanzová, affirmed that “it is time to suspend” the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement that the EU and Cuba reached in 2017 and that was ratified by 26 members of the bloc (Lithuania’s vote remains).
Other legislators condemned the insistence of the conservative banks to include the situation of Cuba on the agenda, while avoiding discussing the situation in other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Honduras or Brazil.