Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch demanded concrete actions against the Cuban regime this Wednesday and asserted that the European Parliament must abandon what he views as a policy of warnings without consequences, ahead of a new vote on Cuba in the plenary session in Strasbourg.
«The time for warnings and threats has ended. We must take action. The European Parliament can no longer continue with ridiculous warnings and threats that are not enforced,» wrote on the social network X the VOX legislator, a member of the Patriots for Europe group.
Her statements align with the debate held this Wednesday in the European Parliament regarding the situation of human rights and political repression in Cuba. The chamber is set to vote on a resolution concerning the island during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday.
Tertsch announced that his group has submitted several amendments to the text that will be debated in the chamber.
"They are perfectly acceptable to anyone who considers the need for freedom in Cuba and the fall of the dictatorship to be of utmost urgency," he stated.
The resolution, primarily promoted by Patriots for Europe, with the backing of the European People's Party (EPP) and Renew Europe, calls for the suspension of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between the European Union and Cuba, the cessation of European subsidies to the regime, and the release of more than 1,200 political prisoners who, according to human rights organizations, remain incarcerated on the island.
During his speech before the plenary session, Tertsch increased the intensity of his criticisms against the Cuban authorities.
"Sixty-seven years of dictatorship, a murderous communist regime that has imprisoned its own children, that has turned Cuba into a huge prison for over six decades," he expressed.
The MEP also questioned the continuation of the ADPC, which has been in provisional effect since November 2017, considering that it has not contributed to improving the human rights situation on the island.
"This agreement has provided the dictatorship with a supposed legitimacy and millions of euros from the European taxpayer," he stated. He argued that these resources ultimately benefit "the party organizations that terrorize the people and the criminal groups at the top of the dictatorship."
Tertsch also recalled the recent appearances before the European Parliament by Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and writer Zoé Valdés, who have advocated for the need to increase international pressure on Havana. Last May, Ferrer described the agreement between the European Union and Cuba as "an aspirin for a terrible cancer" during a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Spanish legislator reserved some of his criticisms for the leftist groups in the European Parliament, whom he accused of maintaining a complacent stance toward the Cuban regime.
"Those who still wish to cozy up to the dictatorship should not pretend by repeating empty resolutions from the past. They can stay and vote with the left, which has once again proven to be the representative of the criminal Castro regime in the European Parliament," he stated.
The political offensive against the agreement with Cuba is taking place amid growing pressure from Brussels. In January 2026, the European Parliament approved an amendment urging a review and suspension of privileged cooperation with the Cuban regime. Months later, in May, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, confirmed that the ADPC was under formal review and acknowledged that the mechanism "has not yielded the expected results."
This is compounded by an increasingly complex economic landscape for the island. International tourism recorded a 55.8% drop during the first four months of 2026, and on June 4, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed direct sanctions for the first time against Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Tertsch concluded his remarks with a call to toughen the European stance towards the Cuban regime.
"That is why we need to end this agreement and help bring down the dictatorship once and for all. Everything else is complicity with the crime," he concluded.
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