For the parliamentarian, the Agreement signed in 2016 is of great importance, since in addition to representing progress in the ties between Cuba and the member states of the bloc, it brought an end to the Common Position of 1996, through which the EU subordinated itself to the anti-Cuban crusade of the U.S. government.

That position constituted a clear form of siege, pressure, attack and blackmail against a sovereign country and a people free to decide its destiny, she stressed in a video-message circulated on social networks.

Pereira pointed out that while the full implementation of the EU-Cuba agreement is urgent, even more urgent is the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than six decades.

The MEP, a member of the GUE/NGL Left Group in the European Parliament, described the policy implemented by Washington as criminal and unacceptable and denounced its extraterritorial nature.

The blockade represents a coercive measure against a sovereign country and an attack on the principles of the UN Charter and International Law, she warned.

In her message, Pereira recognized the resistance of Cubans and their right to build an alternative project of society in the Revolution.

Cuba and the EU will hold in Havana next Friday their third Joint Council, a forum to be chaired by the host Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

The meeting will allow the parties to assess the level of implementation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, which began to be provisionally implemented at the end of 2017.

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