President of European Parliament in Favor of Closer US-Cuba Links

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, described as positive the restoration of relations between Cuba and the United States, an approach that, he said, will also benefit the continent. According to the senior official the decision that "Washington and Havana restart bilateral relations could open the way to the European Union (EU) for a closer economic approach, much deeper with the Caribbean nation."

Schulz reminded he was always part of the group that had " requested this step of reconciliation in the last ten years, because in that way we can put things in order and eliminate some hypocrisies of the past, when the EU imposed restrictions on Cuba while some of its member countries maintained relations," he said.

Wednesday, the President of Cuba, Raul Castro, and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, publicly announced their willingness to begin restoring relations between the two countries, broken since 1961 when Washington imposed a tight economic, commercial and financial blockade on Havana.