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

Question 607: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will support Cuba in their efforts to end the blockade by the U.S.A. [14849/10]

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

There has been a United States embargo on Cuba since 1962. The EU has a longstanding 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 Presidency 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.