Spain wants to aid Cuba-U.S. relations, Spanish parliament speaker says

Spain wants to aid Cuba-U.S. relations, Spanish parliament speaker says
Published September 05, 2015 EFE

Spain wants to "facilitate to the maximum" relations between Cuba and
the United States, the speaker of the lower house of Spain's parliament,
Jesus Posada, said Saturday in Havana, adding that his country will "do
all it can" to smooth the path to normalization between the two countries.

After hailing the renewal of diplomatic ties between Havana and
Washington as "a great accomplishment," Posada recalled that after so
many years of embargo and confrontation, "we can't expect that
everything will be all fixed up in a matter of weeks or months," but
considered that "there is a positive path ahead that will open bit by bit."

"Spain as a member of the European Union will do all it can to make that
happen," the lower house speaker said.

He recalled that his country has stood by Cuba through "difficult
times," while other European Union countries "were perhaps not so close
to Cuba as we were."

Asked about the expectations sparked by the next round of talks between
Cuba and the European Union, to be held next week in Havana, Spain's
lower house speaker expressed his confidence that it will be successful
and that Spain is being "very active" in making it so.

The visit to Cuba has been "a success," according to Posada, who
insisted on its parliamentary and multi-party character, accompanied as
he was by Ignacio Gil of the Popular Party, Teresa Cunillera of the
Socialist Party, and Jose Luis Centella, spokesman for the leftist
Izquierda Plural coalition and secretary general of the Communist Party.

Attending the meeting of the Spanish parliamentary delegation and Cuban
lawmakers on Saturday were Posada, Gil, Cunillera, Centella and
Ambassador Francisco Montalban on the Spanish side, while for Cuba there
were parliament speaker Esteban Lazo, the head of the International
Relations Commission, Yolanda Ferrer, and the leader of the
Constitutional and Judicial Affairs Commission, Jose Luis Toledo Santander.

The Spanish parliamentarians return to their country Saturday night
after a three-day visit, during which the met with Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the Association of Spanish Entrepreneurs in
Cuba, or AEEC, and with representatives of Spanish communities in the
Caribbean nation. EFE

Source: Spain wants to aid Cuba-U.S. relations, Spanish parliament
speaker says | Fox News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/09/05/spain-wants-to-aid-cuba-us-relations-spanish-parliament-speaker-says/