NETHERLANDS/CUBA: NO NEWS EXPECTED FROM EU-CUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001769 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM NL CU SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/CUBA: NO NEWS EXPECTED FROM EU-CUBA MEETING AT UNGA REF: SECSTATE 133035 Classified By: Counselor for Political Affairs Andrew Schofer, for reas ons 1.4(b) and (d) (C) On September 24, 2007, POLOFF presented reftel points to Jan Jaap Groenemeijer, Senior Staff Officer in the Western Hemisphere Department of the Dutch MFA. Groenemeijer indicated that there was no agenda for the expected meeting between the EU Troika and the Cuban FM but that the meeting was an opportunity to "re-start the dialogue." However, Groenemeijer expected nothing to come of the meeting. Cuba's FM probably would offer "nothing new" in New York and just complain about the "double standard" applied to Cuba as compared to other human rights violators like China. Within the EU, there's no unity on lifting sanctions against Cuba, so the (suspended) sanctions policy and the June 18 GAERC statement will continue to guide the EU approach. Arnall