Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 154: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps he is taking to ensure that US sanctions against Cuba are not preventing full and open trade between the EU and the USA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9411/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The US embargo on Cuba was imposed in 1962. Last year, President Obama initiated a review of policy towards Cuba. This review led to the reversal of certain sanctions including the lifting of restrictions on remittances and family travel to Cuba; the resumption of direct postal service between the two countries and the revival of biannual discussions on migration. Indeed, on 12 February 2010, representatives from the US and Cuba met in Havana to discuss the implementation of the US-Cuba Migration Accords.

The European Union has a long-standing position on the US embargo against Cuba which was most recently expressed in an EU Presidency statement on 28 October 2009 during a UN General Assembly debate on the issue. In its statement, the EU accepted that the United States' trade policy towards Cuba was fundamentally a bilateral issue. However, it re-stated its opposition to the embargo as a matter of principle and rejected all unilateral measures directed against Cuba that are contrary to commonly accepted rules of international trade.

The EU and US form the world's largest bilateral trade partnership with combined trade in excess of €400 billion in 2008. The main forum for EU-US economic dialogue is the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), which was established in 2007. The TEC oversees government-to-government cooperation on economic and trade issues and has, in the short period that it has been in existence, helped to advance economic integration between the EU and the US. The level of bilateral trade and the established structures for economic dialogue clearly demonstrate that the difference of approach to Cuba has not significantly affected bilateral trade relations between the EU and the US.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 155: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will support a matter (details supplied). [9416/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I refer the Deputy to my reply to PQ 314 of yesterday, 23 February, copied below.

"There has been a United States embargo on Cuba since 1962. Among the measures applied on foot of this embargo is a ban on the transfer of funds to Cuba involving United States financial institutions. The EU has a long-standing position on the US embargo, most recently expressed in the EU Presidency statement on 28 October 2009 during the debate in the General Assembly on the resolution on the "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". In this statement, the EU said that while it believed that the United States' trade policy towards Cuba is fundamentally a bilateral issue, American legislation such as the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 had extended the effects of the US' embargo to third-party countries. As a matter of principle the European Union firmly and continuously opposes such extraterritorial measures and rejects all unilateral measures directed against Cuba that are contrary to commonly accepted rules of international trade.

In relation to the question of transfer of funds in support of Cuban medical teams, I understand that Irish groups involved in coordinating the collection of donations have made alternative arrangements for their transfer. Finally, I commend the swift and effective response by Cuba to the devastating earthquake in neighbouring Haiti".