Czechs postpone decision on EU lifting Cuba sanctions

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg argued against lifting sanctions on Cuba at an EU meeting on Monday, and succeeded in having the decision postponed until a summit of the EU’s 27 member states on Thursday. At a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, the topic of Cuban sanctions was raised, but then mothballed, with precedence being given to questions about the Lisbon Treaty, which Irish voters rejected last week. Lifting sanctions would put the EU at odds with Washington over its Cuba policy. Former colonial power Spain has long led calls for an end to EU sanctions, but it has met resistance from the EU’s ex-communist members, most notably the Czech Republic.