Europe set to abandon Cuba sanctions (UPDATED)

The European Union in 2003 imposed diplomatic sanctions on Cuba after the “black spring” arrests and imprisonments of some 75 independent journalists and librarians, human rights and democracy activists and other dissidents. The sanctions did not affect trade between Cuba and Europe but were still a poweful symbol that the dictatorship’s repression of its opponents put it outside of what is acceptable behavior by a civilized world.
Europe’s standards apparenly have changed, because Cuba’s behavior sure hasn’t. Five years after the “black spring,” 55 of those jailed then remain in prison, and while such massive sweeps of dissidents have been far and few between, the Cuban secret police is still patrolling the streets and knocking on doors — and on occasion, banging on heads — to silence the regime’s opponents.
Still, it’s time, according to an EU official visiting the island this weekend, to scrap the sanctions.
Reuters reports:

EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel visited Havana to gauge the political climate following the replacement of the ailing 81-year-old Castro by his brother (r)aul (c)astro on Feb 24, Cuba’s first change of leader in almost half a century.
Michel said he will try to persuade the EU’s 27 member states to scrap diplomatic sanctions that were adopted after a crackdown on dissent in 2003 but have not been enforced since 2005, Michel’s top aide and European Commission Director-General for Development Stefano Manservisi said.
The EU measures, which included a freeze on visits by high-level officials, were diplomatic and did not stop trade and investment in Cuba, unlike the embargo the United States has maintained against Havana since 1962. In 2005, the sanctions were suspended contingent on periodic reviews of Cuba’s human rights record.
During his stay, Michel did not meet President (r)aul (c)astro but held talks with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Lage, Vice President Carlos Lage and National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon.
Michel found that economic and political changes, including advances in human rights, are in the pipeline, though they may take time and are not being publicly broadcast by the new leadership, Manservisi said.
“Michel is more than ever convinced that a situation of political immobility by the European Union in this context of underground movement would be a big mistake,” Manservisi said.

Not as big as the mistake Europe will realize it has made when Cuba responds with more of its “immobility” on human rights.
UPDATED
Cuban dissident leaders Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Miriam Leiva and Martha Beatriz Roque all dismissed Michel’s comments, noting that he had refused to meet with them during his visit to Cuba and that he apparently did not bring up the question of political prisoners during his visit.