Clinton decides to continue stay on Helms-Burton Act

PRESIDENT Clinton has decided to continue the suspension of the Helms-Burton Act which penalises non-US companies investing in…

PRESIDENT Clinton has decided to continue the suspension of the Helms-Burton Act which penalises non-US companies investing in certain sectors in Cuba. The suspension was discussed with the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, during his visit here last month but without a decision being announced.

The decision will be greeted with relief by the EU which has campaigned vigorously against Helms-Burton Act and threatened the US with reprisals if it were fully enforced. President Clinton signed the Act last July but suspended its full application for six months to give time for the EU to take a tougher line with Cuba.

Under the Act, EU companies which have invested in US property confiscated in the 1959 takeover of power by President Fidel Castro can be sued for damages in American courts. Trade with Cuba by foreign companies is not affected.

In a statement published here yesterday, President Clinton said that a number of developments "show the strengthened international consensus for change in Cuba". He cited the EU's "common position" of last month under the Irish presidency "binding all 15-member nations to promote democracy and reform in Cuba".

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In a significant passage, the President also said that he expects to "continue suspending the right to file suit so long as America's friends and allies continue their stepped-up efforts to promote a transition to democracy in Cuba".

The ambassador of the EU Commission in Washington, Mr Hugo Paemen, welcomed the decision but pointed out that it "falls short" of the Commission's hopes for a "more comprehensive resolution of this difficult issue in transatlantic relations."

He pointed out that the President's decision does not affect the ban on EU businessmen and their families visiting the US if their companies have been accused of "trafficking" in US expropriated property in Cuba.

. Republicans in Washington yesterday sought to shore up support for the House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Newt Gingrich, and predicted he would be reelected Speaker.