6
May
2025
Watch
An urgent assessment of the applicability of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) with Cuba (debate)
Madam President, thank you very much. The humanitarian situation in communist-controlled Cuba is appalling and deteriorating. Through the cooperation agreement between the EU and the Cuban regime, we are giving de facto legitimacy to a brutal dictatorship that cracks down on freedom of expression, imprisons dissidents and denies fundamental freedoms to its people. Even when the agreement was concluded, we Christian Democrats warned against the naive belief that increased cooperation would in itself lead to democratisation. Today we see the result: continued repression and, in addition, a Cuba that actively enables Russian recruitment of troops to the front in Ukraine – Cuban men lured with false promises of citizenship in exchange for fighting Putin’s illegal war. Just reviewing the partnership agreement is insufficient. It is high time that the EU showed solidarity with the Cuban people and suspended the agreement.