Brussels and Havana

Abstract

The recognition of Cuba in the institutional framework of the European Union (EU) has been a recent phenomenon because of several complementary reasons. First, the initial membership and the original aims of the EU since the 1950s have to be taken into account. In its early years, the European Community concentrated its efforts in the development of its common commercial policy. In contrast, the European Political Cooperation (EPC), the predecessor of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), was very modest in its reach. The fact that an approach to Cuba had a political connotation, because of the confrontation between Havana and Washington, made it advisable for the leadership of the EU to be prudent. Second, from the historical point of view, Latin America was not even mentioned in the Schuman Declaration that propelled the formation of the original European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); it referred only to Africa as an additional beneficiary of the aims and purposes of European integration. This apparent discrimination was due to the overwhelming role played by France, the only European Community power that at the time had colonies, with the exception of Belgium’s colonial control over the Congo. The EU did not consider the Caribbean a secondary geographic priority until the UK joined the European Community.