In the plenary session of the European Parliament, the Spanish Secretary of State asserted that “although we are still open to dialogue with Cuba, the EU will continue to call for the release of political prisoners and respect for the civil and political rights of Cuban citizens”.

In his view, this summarises the resolution on Cuba agreed on by the main groups in the European Parliament.

López Garrido made a statement on behalf of the Council in which he described the death of the Cuban prisoner as “a deeply negative occurrence which should never have happened and which we do not want to be repeated, either in Cuba or anywhere else”.

“Wherever universal rights are violated, the European Union acknowledges it aloud (…) and that is what we have done in the case of Cuba; we have expressed our pessimism and concern regarding the lack of progress in the area of human rights, we have demanded the release of prisoners of conscience held in Cuban jails, and we have said that the death of Orlando Zapata is something that questions the responsibility of a government which holds prisoners under its jurisdiction”, he said.

López Garrido made special reference to the “very serious” state of health of Guillermo Fariñas, who is also on hunger strike.

At the same time, he stressed that “EU policy towards Cuba goes beyond this”; it revolves around elements such as political dialogue with institutions, authorities, and civil society as a whole.

Other “fundamental elements” of this policy, he added, are development cooperation with Cuba and promoting progress in “democratic culture and practices”.

The European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, reiterated these arguments: on the one hand, he “deeply” regretted the death of Zapata, which occurred after 85 days on hunger strike.

The Commissioner said that “everything possible” must be done to prevent such a thing from happening again.

However, he also argued in favour of “continuing political dialogue and cooperation” with Havana through constructive policies, not sanctions, in order to improve the condition of the Cuban people.

Most Euro Parliament members agreed in their speeches with the arguments put forward by the Council and European Commission representatives.

The Socialist Member of Parliament Luis Yáñez-Barnuevo called on the different political groups to put aside their differences on the framework of relations with Cuba and focus as a unit on demanding respect for human rights from the island's authorities.

The European Popular Party Member of Parliament, Ignacio Salafranca, for his part, considered that the European Union should “act as assessor” in order to help Cuba on the road to democracy.

• Video: Highlights of the debate in the European Parliament on the situation in Cuba [10-03-10]