The European Union’s member states today united in calling for deeper relations with Cuba, authorising the start of talks on a broad and relatively shallow agreement with the communist regime.

The decision by the EU’s foreign ministers is the most significant move by the EU since 2008, and is intended to provide a structure for and inject dynamism into the development of relations with Cuba.

The EU suspended relations with Cuba in 2003, when 75 dissidents were jailed. Since the prisoners’ release in 2008, achieved partly through the mediation of Spain’s Catholic Church, the EU has given Cuba about €86 million in emergency aid and for programmes ranging from energy to development and education.

However, policies and contacts have developed in an ad hoc way. An official said that the mooted agreement – dubbed a ‘political dialogue and co-operation agreement’ – would provide stability and predictability, and should make policies more effective.

The talks have a trade component, but would not affect the current tariff regime for Cuban products.

The member states’ approval of talks will start a process that is likely to be low-key and exploratory initially, though diplomats and EU officials are hopeful that Cuba’s tentative reforms will make it receptive to more comprehensive engagement with the EU. Raúl Castro’s regime has been through what one EU official described as “an extensive political process to identify and endorse a reform agenda…There are many items in them that merit support.”

The main concern for many EU member states has been Cuba’s record on human rights, and diplomats say that, throughout the negotiations, the EU’s member states will keep a close eye on whether Cuba liberalises its political systems. Human-rights issues are “amply” reflected in the mandate, a senior EU official said.

The political sensitivity of the EU’s outreach explains, diplomats say, why responsibility for negotiating the deal will be shared between the European Commission and the EU’s diplomatic service. The Commission often negotiates political agreements together with trade agreements on the EU’s behalf, as it is currently doing in the case of Japan.

While the talks may prove politically sensitive, the agreement is not complicated in technical terms, officials say. That could make it feasible for an agreement to be struck at a summit that the EU will host next year with countries from the Caribbean and Latin America.

However, the senior EU official said “we are in no hurry” and that progress would depend on Cuba’s engagement. “The motivation to push forward in the negotiations will be greater if we see changes in Cuba and see opportunities that this agreement might support [a] process of change and reform,” he said. “If we do not see that perspective, the motivation to engage frequently to advance the negotiations will be much less and other priorities will get the upper hand.”

The United States, which has maintained an embargo on Cuba since 1960, has been kept informed about throughout a three-year process of reviewing its relations with Cuba.

“I am confident that there is a full understanding in Washington for what we are seeking to achieve,” the senior EU official said.

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“We are running our own race, but that will no doubt have reverberations in Washington and elsewhere,” he said, while declaring that the EU was not acting as a “pathfinder” for the US.