(HAVANA) - The time is right for the European Union to begin a dialogue with Cuba toward normalizing ties and removing sanctions against the regime, EU aid commissioner Louis Michel said here Saturday.

Michel spoke on the second day of the first trip to Cuba by a senior European official since ailing communist stalwart Fidel Castro handed power to his brother Raul Castro last month.

"In my opinion, the time and moment is right to have a dialogue with Cuba," Michel said in a joint news conference with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

"I decided to come to Cuba in these important times because the normalization of relations between Cuba and the European Union is a very important question," the development and humanitarian aid commissioner said.

"The first obstacle to normalization is the sanctions" that the EU imposed in 2003 and suspended two years later, Michel said, adding that they should be reviewed "to see if they can be eliminated."

The sanctions were imposed after the Cuban regime arrested 75 dissidents in a crackdown.

Michel said he would have to brief the European parliament an Council of Europe about his trip and try to convince them to remove the sanctions.

Perez Roque said his conversation with Michel was "positive" but that "obstacles that need to be removed remain."

"We are not yet immersed in a political dialogue," he said. "We considered the possibility of reaching an agreement for a political dialogue that includes all topics ... including the human rights issue," the foreign minister said.

Perez Roque and Michel both answered "yes" when asked if the visit showed progress in the Cuban-EU rapprochement.

The Cuban foreign minister also took a swipe at US President George W. Bush, who Friday spurned calls to end hardline US policies now that Fidel Castro has officially given up power and scolded major democracies doing business in Cuba.

"Bush is simply a furious and powerless spectator to what is happening in Cuba," Perez Roque said. "I enjoyed his words. I enjoyed his frustration."

Cuba's seamless power transfer has fueled mounting pressure, including from US Democratic presidential hopefuls, to lift the full embargo Washington has imposed on Cuba since 1962.

"That sentiment is exactly backward. To improve relations, what needs to change is not the United States, what needs to change is Cuba," Bush said after meeting with relatives of imprisoned democratic activists.

"So far, all Cuba has done is replace one dictator with another. And its former ruler is still influencing events from behind the scenes," he said.

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