(EFE).- The Political Dialogue and Cooperation agreement between the European Union and Cuba will continue to be applied provisionally until it has been ratified by all the EU countries, among which Lithuania is the only one that has rejected the treaty in his Parliament, community sources recalled this Thursday.
“The current situation is that the Lithuanian Parliament has not ratified its agreement. It is the only member state of the Twenty-seven that has not formally ratified the agreement. What this implies is that the agreement is being applied provisionally,” the sources said, asked about the situation of the first bilateral agreement between the EU and Cuba.
They confirmed that the agreement, which was signed in December 2016 and has been in force since November 1, 2017, will remain in force on a provisional basis “unless Lithuania ratifies the agreement.”
This treaty marked the end of the so-called “common position” of the EU towards Cuba, the restrictive unilateral policy that the Union had maintained towards Havana since 1996, and that linked any progress in the bilateral relationship to progress in democratization and human rights in the island.
Asked if they believe that Cuba has complied with its obligations in terms of fundamental freedoms under the agreement, they affirmed that “one of the advantages” of that pact is that “for the first time, we have the possibility of having an agreement on human rights with Cuba”.
The agreement, which was signed in December 2016 and has been in force since November 1, 2017, will remain in force provisionally “unless Lithuania ratifies the agreement.”
“We use this tool to put our concerns about human rights in Cuba, which are very well known, on the table,” they explained.
In any case, they stressed that “there is no simple yes or no in terms of whether Cuba has complied with human rights.”
“What we have with the agreement is, for the first time, the possibility of directly committing ourselves with Cuba and expressing our assessment of the situation in the country,” they said.
This agreement provides a legal framework for the EU and Cuba to develop their bilateral agreements around political dialogue, cooperation and sectoral dialogue, and trade cooperation.
Human rights is one of the areas in which the EU placed special emphasis when closing the agreement, and in parallel the two parties have launched a dialogue focused on this area for which they hold regular meetings.
Specifically, the pact promotes cooperation in favor of sustainable development, democracy and human rights, as well as the possibility of finding shared solutions to global challenges through joint actions in multilateral forums.
The areas of common interest that can be addressed in the agreement include renewable energy, rural development, the environment, human rights, good governance, security or job creation, among others.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
