The Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch announced this Monday that his group will present a resolution in the upcoming Plenary session of the European Parliament to suspend immediately the agreements that the European Union has with Cuba.
Tertsch, from the group Patriots for Europe —which includes the Spanish party Vox— referred to the initiative in a video shared on his X account along with the message "Long live a free Cuba! And very soon!"
"The situation of the Cuban people under the communist dictatorship has become completely unbearable. We know that a process is underway for this dictatorship to end, and to end very soon," declared Tertsch in the video.
He added, "That is why we cannot allow this absolute shame of Europe being the last support for this tyranny that has been torturing the Cuban people for 67 years and poisoning all of Ibero-America with its message of hatred, violence, and misery."
The Member of the European Parliament was explicit about the goal of the initiative: "Patriots, on the initiative of Vox, will present a resolution in the European Parliament at the upcoming Plenary session, to immediately suspend the agreements that exist with Cuba, which allow for that outrageous and shameful European funding to the Communist Party and its repressive bodies."
The resolution is not limited to the suspension of agreements. Tertsch also demanded "concrete, active measures against the regime, against those responsible for all the crimes", the "immediate release of all political prisoners in Cuba", and immediate steps towards a democratic transition.
The MEP also highlighted the role of the United States as an indispensable ally in that process: “With help from our allies, particularly the United States, which has been critically important in Venezuela and must also be in Cuba to take these steps and create a free and democratic society where there has only been horror and darkness, pain and killings for the past 67 years.”
The initiative comes at a time of increasing pressure on the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (ADPC) between the EU and Cuba, signed in 2016 and in force since 2017, which channels tens of millions of euros annually and has been criticized for benefiting state entities in Cuba instead of the independent civil society.
In January, the European Parliament had already approved an amendment with 331 votes in favor and 241 against to suspend cooperation with Cuba, citing the presence of more than 1,076 Cuban fighters in Ukraine and the use of European funds in repressive structures. In March, Members of the European Parliament from the ECR group demanded an end to European funding for the regime.
The Cuban civil society has been crucial in this process. In April 2026, the activists Carolina Barrero and Amelia Calzadilla from Ciudadanía y Libertad, confirmed that the EU had started an internal review process of the ADPC after meeting with the Vice President of the European Parliament Esteban González Pons. Calzadilla described these meetings as "very optimistic."
On May 5th, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, exiled from Cuba in October 2025 after a hunger strike in prison, appeared before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament and described Cuba as being in "the worst crisis of its modern history." The following day, he referred to the EU-Cuba agreement as "an aspirin for a terrible cancer."
Parliamentary pressure on the ADPC dates back to the protests of July 11, 2021, when the European Parliament approved a condemnation resolution with 426 votes in favor. In September 2024, a new resolution received 447 votes in favor, condemning arbitrary detentions and citing more than 1,377 political prisoners on the Island.
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