8 member states call on EU to ‘review and assess’ Syria policy

Eight member states of the European Union have called on the bloc to “review and assess” its stance and policy toward Syria, amid the Assad regime’s survival thirteen years after the Syrian revolution.

In a letter to the EU’s Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, which came ahead of a discussion between EU member states’ diplomats on the Middle East yesterday, the foreign ministers of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia announced that their “goal is a more active, outcome-driven and operational Syria policy”.

Stating that such a policy reform “would allow us to increase our political leverage [and] the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance” in Syria, the foreign ministers proposed ten areas – outlined in a separate informal document – that should be discussed “openly and without prejudice”.

According to the news outlet, Euractiv, which saw the original letter, the diplomats proposed the formation of an EU envoy to Syria who would re-engage the Syrian ambassador to Brussels, as well as liaise with players in Syria and the wider region.

READ: The world will regret bringing Assad in from the cold

Other areas for exploration would reportedly include a strategic exchange with Arab partners, the further development of humanitarian mechanisms as part of the EU’s early recovery approach, the addressing of unintended negative effects of EU sanctions, and facilitating conditions for the return of refugees to Syria.

According to Austria’s Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg, one of the signatories of the letter, “we have to admit that our Syria policy has not aged well” after thirteen years of the ongoing conflict in Syria between the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and opposition groups.

“Bitter as it is, with the help of Iran and Russia, the Assad regime remains firmly in the saddle, the Syrian opposition is fragmented or in exile altogether – the European Union cannot turn a blind eye to this reality any longer,” Schallenberg stated.

The proposal for a new EU Syria policy has long been brewing over the past few years, with a number of the bloc’s member states increasingly calling for recognising Syria as being “safe”, despite the regime’s continued human rights violations and the presence of conflict in parts of the country.

It comes at a time when the EU is increasingly imposing sanctions on the Assad regime and its affiliated figures and entities, making it unlikely that the bloc will significantly shift its policy at this point in time.

READ: EU imposes sanctions on ex-Syria DM and chief of staff