Changes from resolution motion to resolution motion joint

RemovedU. whereas Parliament’s approval of the PDCA was linked to the commitment by the Commission and the EEAS to guarantee the establishment of a regular exchange with Parliament on the application of the agreement and on the fulfilment of the mutual obligations contained therein, especially those relating to the implementation of all provisions on human rights; whereas Parliament has also requested that the EEAS do everything possible to closely monitor the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba when applying the PDCA;

RemovedV. whereas, despite years of Parliament insisting on the need to visit the island, the Cuban authorities systematically refuse to allow committees, delegations and political groups from Parliament, international human rights organisations and other independent observers of the human rights situation, including UN special rapporteurs, to enter Cuba;

RemovedW. whereas on 23 November 2023, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament authorised the sending of an ad hoc delegation to the Republic of Cuba following a letter of invitation from the Ambassador of Cuba to Belgium and the European Union dated 20 September 2023; whereas paragraph 45 of its non-legislative resolution of 5 July 2017 on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part, refers to requesting entry to Cuba of an official delegation of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which is part of the PDCA;

RemovedX. whereas the current political system in Cuba is incompatible with the EU’s demands to conclude cooperation agreements; whereas respect for human, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights is essential for the EU;

RemovedY. whereas on 16 September 2021, Parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution on the government repression of protests and citizens in Cuba calling for the EU to activate Article 85(3)b of the PDCA to suspend the agreement because of the Cuban regime’s violations of the provisions relating to human rights, which constituted a ‘special urgency case’; whereas Parliament recalled that the PDCA’s human rights clause was an essential element of the agreement; whereas it called on the Council to make use of the human rights provisions in the general EU sanctions regime and to adopt sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba as soon as possible,

Removed1. Condemns in the strongest terms the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of the Cuban people during the more than six decades of rule by the Communist Party of Cuba; condemns the systematic and increasing violation of the fundamental rights of political prisoners, human rights defenders and other citizens by authoritarian regimes all around the world, especially following the recent killing of Alexei Navalny by the Russian regime, a like-minded partner of the Cuban regime;

Removed2. Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their human rights, especially of the political prisoners José Daniel Ferrer, who is currently being held in an unknown location, and Roberto Pérez Fonseca, who was sentenced to ten years in prison in July 2021;

Removed3. Demands full transparency in an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for killing Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero;

Removed4. Regrets that, since 2015, when the dialogue on human rights between the EU and Cuba was restarted, the Cuban regime has systematically refused to recognise the monitoring of human rights as a legitimate activity and has denied legal status to local human rights groups;

Removed5. Disapproves of the passive and irresponsible attitude of the EEAS under the direction of VP/HR Josep Borrell, as it has ignored or trivialised the outcry of the Cuban people and the systematic violation of human rights by the regime in Cuba; considers that this attitude has indirectly contributed to a dramatic worsening of the human rights situation, in flagrant violation of the provisions contained in the PDCA between the EU and Cuba that was signed in 2016;

Removed6. Objects to the fact that the EEAS has systematically infringed the terms of the PDCA referring to cooperation projects that establish civil society as an essential part of this cooperation; disapproves of the fact that since the signing of the PDCA, the EEAS has made it possible for the cooperation funds to end up exclusively in the hands of companies owned or controlled by the Cuban state or organisations of the Communist Party of Cuba, leading to the illegitimate conversion of these funds into a means of financing the Cuban dictatorship;

Removed7. Disapproves of the fact that, in May 2022, despite the constant violation of human rights by the Cuban regime, VP/HR Josep Borrell misused his participation in the third bilateral meeting that took place in Cuba under the PDCA, putting his goal of diplomatically approaching the regime above the fate of the people of Cuba, in particular the political prisoners, of whom several were on hunger strike, and ignoring all those oppressed by the communist dictatorship; regrets that the visit contributed to whitewashing President Díaz-Canel and the Cuban dictatorship; regrets that the VP/HR’s statements have avoided mentioning the serious and systematic violations of human rights, have not condemned Cuba’s support for Russia in its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and therefore have not reflected the Council’s conclusions and the EU’s positions and policies which he is obliged to represent and implement;

Removed8. Requests that VP/HR Josep Borrell place his position at the disposal of the Council, and tasks the Commission President and the Council with carrying out a thorough assessment of how his actions have seriously harmed the people of Cuba; is of the opinion that implementing such harmful policies, which contravene the EU’s values and founding documents, should be met with proper reactions from the Council, the Commission and Parliament and that VP/HR Josep Borrell should therefore fully bear responsibility for his actions;

Removed9. Deplores the fact that, despite the time that has elapsed since the entry into force of the PDCA, the lack of democracy and freedoms in Cuba has not improved at all; notes that, on the contrary, the human rights situation on the island has been further aggravated and has further deteriorated, in clear and systematic violation of the basic provisions of the PDCA;

6. Reiterates its firm and unconditional support for the Cuban people, for all human rights defenders in Cuba and for their commendable dedication to freedoms and all rights which the Cuban regime has denied for decades;

Change 2

Removed11. Urges the EU to live up to its values by applying Article 85(3)b and immediately suspending the PDCA between the EU and Cuba;

Added7. Expresses its deep concern over the existence of forced labour in Cuba and condemns Cuban state-driven forced labour, in particular in medical brigades, but also involving teachers, sailors, engineers, artists, athletes and others, whose salary is mostly appropriated by the Cuban Government; denounces the fact that most of the ‘volunteers’ in international missions stated that they were deployed against their will or had to participate under coercive structural conditions;

Removed12. Urges the Council to strongly condemn Cuba’s permanent interference in the internal affairs of other Latin American countries and its clear cooperation with other totalitarian regimes, as well as with drug cartels and terrorist forces, during the past six decades;

Added8. Notes that in November 2023, members of the Cuban Parliament, including the Secretary of the Cuban National Parliament, Homero Acosta, were accorded respectful treatment and warmly received at the European Parliament; declares the continued exclusion of the European Parliament, which is the sole European institution denied access to Cuban territory, to be unacceptable and in violation of the PDCA; rejects Cuba’s decision to refuse a visit by an ad hoc delegation from Parliament and urges the Cuban authorities to adhere to the principles of the PDCA and grant Parliament access to the country; requests that, in accordance with the PDCA’s principles of equality, reciprocity and mutual respect, similar measures be adopted, denying access to Parliament’s premises to any representative of the National Assembly of People’s Power or of the Cuban regime;

Removed13. Urges the Council to make use of the human rights provisions in the general EU sanctions regime and to adopt sanctions, as soon as possible, against those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba and abroad who assist other dictatorships and rogue states in carrying out torture and strategies of social terror, in view of the systematic violation of human rights by the Cuban regime, which constitutes a ‘case of special urgency’;

Added9. Demands that, in accordance with the PDCA, the Cuban authorities grant access to a European Parliament, EU and Member State delegation, as well as to independent human rights organisations, in order to monitor trials and visit the hundreds of activists and ordinary Cubans who remain imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly; calls on the HR/VP, in any contact with the Cuban authorities, to raise the fact that Parliament has yet again been denied access and to urge them to reverse this decision immediately;

Removed14. Invites the EU Member States to demand the immediate revocation of Cuba’s place on the UN Human Rights Council;

Added10. Reiterates its call on the Council to apply the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (the EU Magnitsky Act) and adopt sanctions against those responsible for the persistent human rights violations in Cuba, starting by sanctioning Miguel Díaz-Canel, as the most senior figure in the chain of command of the Cuban security forces, along with other high-ranking officials within the Cuban Government and all those responsible for the imprisonment of political prisoners;

Removed15. Demands the immediate cessation of all financial aid from the EU to Cuba, which has been consistently maintained without taking into account the continuing serious human rights violations and which fuels the regime instead of providing relief to and serving the people of Cuba;

Added11. Reiterates its call for the EU to trigger Article 85(3)(b) of the PDCA to request an immediate meeting of the joint committee owing to the Cuban Government’s breaches of the agreement, which constitute a ‘case of special urgency’, underlines that these breaches involve persistent and substantial violations of democratic principles, as well as a disregard for the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and emphasised in Article 1(5) of the PDCA, and stresses that the Cuban regime’s failure to address such transgressions despite repeated calls from Parliament to do so should lead to the suspension of the agreement;

Change 3

Changed16.12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Government and National Assembly of People’s Power of Cuba, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the President of the Commission, the College of Commissioners, the European UnionEU Special Representative for Human Rights, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the governments of the members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.