U.S. Lauds EU on Cuba Stance

In a move that appears to diminish the prospects of a major confrontation between two of the world’s trading giants, the United States and the European Union on Monday further eased their differences over how to bring democracy to Cuba.

At a news conference after a semiannual summit between U.S. and EU leaders, President Clinton praised recent European actions aimed at pushing Cuba toward democratic reform.

Earlier this month, economics and finance ministers from the 15-nation union for the first time linked new trade and investment in Cuba with Havana’s progress in human rights and movement toward democracy.

That stance was strengthened Saturday by EU heads of government meeting in Dublin, Ireland, and underscored Monday in Clinton’s White House meeting with EU Executive Commission President Jacques Santer of Luxembourg and Prime Minister John Bruton of Ireland, now in the chair of the union’s rotating presidency.

“I applaud the European Union for the important step forward . . . one that puts the support for democracy at the heart of the relationship between Europe and Cuba,” Clinton said after the meeting.

Formally, the EU stance brings the United States and its major European allies together for the first time on the principle of linking economic relations with progress on human rights and democracy in Cuba.

While the U.S. has long imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba to try to strangle the one Communist government in the Western Hemisphere, Europeans have been reluctant to use economic restrictions as a lever to force change in a nation’s political conditions.

The EU action comes after U.S. legislation passed earlier this year threatening punitive action against foreign companies that use seized American assets to do business with Cuba.

It was the downing of two American civil aircraft by Cuban air force jets that triggered that legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

But the new European move also follows an intense U.S. diplomatic effort launched last summer to redirect the widespread hostile response to the Helms-Burton act--not just by the EU, which challenged it as a violation of international law, but also by Canada and Latin America.

The Clinton administration has tried to shift the spotlight from threats of sanctions to ways of achieving a common goal of bringing democracy to Cuba.

In comments Monday, Santer stressed this new direction, saying: “We must sustain a dialogue with Cuba in which we make clear that the further deepening of our relations with that country is linked to Havana’s own efforts to improve human rights and political freedom.”

But Santer added that the union has no immediate plans to drop its legal challenge to Helms-Burton if the United States should try to impose sanctions on European companies dealing with Havana.

To avoid a damaging transatlantic trade dispute, Clinton suspended the sanctions element of Helms-Burton for six months in July and will review it next month. While Clinton refused to announce any decision on this review Monday, U.S.-European tensions were visibly lower.

“It’s no longer the United States that is isolated now, it’s Fidel Castro,” said Stuart Eizenstat, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, who has led U.S. diplomatic efforts on the issue. “It’s really a sea change in attitude.”

At the same news conference, Clinton rejected suggestions that Senate confirmation of National Security Advisor Anthony Lake as the new CIA director could run into trouble because Lake failed to inform Congress of Iranian arms shipments to the Bosnian Muslims.

“No, I don’t think his confirmation is in jeopardy,” Clinton said. “We were not under any legal obligation of any kind, as far as I’m aware, to make any kind of specific notation about the cables that went back and forth regarding this issue.”