Cuba has announced it has resumed official contacts with the eight European Union countries of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. 

On Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez said the decision was made after an EU commission recommended that member countries work to improve relations with Havana, in part by stopping inviting dissidents to national holiday celebrations at their embassies.

"Due to these pronouncements, Cuba has decided to resume official contact with a group of EU countries," Perez told a news conference, which was attended by ambassadors of these European countries in Havana.

Relations between Havana and the EU have been frozen since mid-2003, when the EU applied diplomatic sanctions to the island country in response to its arrest of 75 dissidents.

Among the measures adopted by the EU were the ending of political dialogue, limiting of high-level government visits and reduction of member states' participation in cultural events in the country.

Cuba responded by relinquishing all economic aid from the EU, its officials stopped participating in EU receptions, and its foreign minister refused to receive EU ambassadors who sought to see him.

By late November as the EU reviewed its sanctions against Cuba, Havana began releasing some of the dissidents from prison.

European diplomats welcomed the announcement as a major step towards normalizing relations between Cuba and the European Union, the island's main trade and investment partner.

Cuba had already restored contacts with Spain, whose government called for the policy review to end the deadlock with its former colony, while Belgium avoided the diplomatic freeze by not inviting dissidents to its receptions.

Still on Cuba's blacklist among the EU countries with embassies in Havana are the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have opposed a softening in policy until Cuba releases all political prisoners.

EU foreign ministers are expected to decide later this month whether to scrap or scale down the national day celebrations by not inviting Cuban authorities or dissidents.

To allay any impression of a climbdown, the EU will continue to press for the release of all political detainees and intensify contacts with dissidents, EU officials said.

"Both sides have shown goodwill to improve ties, and that is a very positive development. But there is still some way to go," a European diplomat said.

Another diplomat said Cuba was trying to divide the European Union by "unfreezing" some nations but not others, which was unacceptable since the 25-member bloc has a common policy on Cuba.

The move to mend relations between Cuba and Europe comes at a time of increased tension between Havana and Washington.

(China Daily January 5, 2005)