Several EU countries believe coordination with the government in Damascus will boost the effectiveness of efforts to provide Syria with humanitarian assistance
The EU is considering reevaluating its engagement with the Syrian government, the Financial Times (FT) reported on 22 July.
A number of EU states have proposed increasing their interaction with the Damascus government in a bid to boost “political leverage” in Syria.
Eight EU countries, including Italy and Austria, called for the bloc to “review and assess” its Syria approach.
“Our goal is a more active, outcome-driven, and operational Syria policy. This would allow us to increase our political leverage [and] the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance,” wrote the foreign minister of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia in a letter to EU Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, obtained by FT.
Western sanctions on Syria, as well as certain countries’ lack of coordination with the Syrian government, have hindered efforts to provide certain areas of the country with humanitarian assistance.
The letter came ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on the region scheduled for 22 July.
The stabilization of the war in Syria and recent normalization initiatives between Arab states and Damascus, among other things, have “changed dynamics” and contributed to the newfound openness to engaging with Syria.
Despite these “significant developments … the EU policy towards Syria has not evolved, with the result that the huge humanitarian effort is not translated in a correspondent political role,” the letter adds.
According to another document cited in the report, the ministers have also suggested appointing an EU envoy to Syria that could coordinate with Syrian officials. This would include the “re-engagement” of Damascus’ ambassador to the EU in Brussels.
They also suggested a discussion on the EU sanctions policy towards Syria and said that “over-compliance in the banking system” has “unintended negative effects … on the [Syrian] population.”
The EU severed ties with the Syrian government following the start of the US-backed regime change war on the country in 2011. In 2017, it adopted a policy calling for an eventual political transition.
Alongside Washington, the EU has imposed punitive economic sanctions against Syria.
“Under sanctions, Syria is facing great difficulties in rebuilding its key agriculture, industry, energy, education, and healthcare sectors which were destroyed in a war in which Washington played a leading role. Damascus has been reduced to seeking out regional alternatives and intermediary companies to circumvent its stranglehold, or receiving help from friendly countries such as Russia or Iran,” The Cradle’s Syria correspondent wrote last year.
Last year, the Syrian opposition made a call for renewed dialogue with the Syrian government. The call came not long after Syria’s readmission into the Arab league after over a decade.
The last series of meetings held between Damascus and Syria’s political opposition took place in Geneva in 2017. That year, the talks collapsed from the failure of both sides to agree on a settlement.
🔗SOURCE ➡️ TheCradle
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