Foreign Affairs
EU Ministers converge on a step-for-step approach on sanctions on Syria
By Editorial Staff
The EU 27 Ministers agreed on Monday to ease sanctions on Syria, as the country has long waited for such a step to revive its economy. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas announced the decision on Monday after the ministers’ meeting. She claimed it would help the country “get back on its feet.”
“While we aim to move fast, we also are ready to reverse the course if the situation worsens,” she said during a press conference. The measure the EU Council adopted is indeed reversible and conditioned to the leadership capacity to stick to its commitment to an inclusive transition and respect for the rights of minorities.
The EU Ministers engaged in a roadmap for a step-for-step approach, starting with the sanctions that hinder the early build-up of the country and humanitarian assistance. “What we are not relieving, of course, is anything related to arms and arm dealing,” Kallas told journalists. “We are still concerned about the radicalization and what might happen,” she further stressed. EU ministers look forward to seeing some steps going in the right direction. The one that emerged from the meeting was a willingness to ease the next set of sanctions.
“We have also agreed that a window of opportunity is opening and that we have to be clear and demanding about our red lines that all Syrians in this inclusive future of Syria must have the same rights and that foreign interference must not be accepted,” the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno told journalists on the sidelines of the EU Council work.
Italian Minister Antonio Tajani, who asked to suspend the sanction to the new Syrian leadership straightforwardly, stressed the importance of giving “a good signal”. “So far, we have had positive signals; let’s hope that we will be reciprocated with just as much trust in us from them,” he said while also lending credit to a more resolute approach.
The EU Ministers also supported the revival of the civilian mission from February to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah. During the end-of-work press conference, Kallas mentioned the invitation letters from both Palestine and Israel and recalled Egypt’s agreement. The EU is seeking to benefit from humanitarian activism and play a role in the cease-fire that recently Hamas and Israel agreed on. France, Spain, and Italy will take part in the mission by deploying some tenths of civil servants.
Kallas rejected Donald Trump’s proposal for Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinian evacuees from Gaza on their territory, saying that a permanent peace also depends on the implementation of the two States solution. “That is why also the European Union is supporting the Palestinian Authority, humanitarian aid, Gaza, UNRWA – the UN agency on the relief of Palestinians -, for that matter, so that all the services are provided to the people in need there,” journalists were told.
Asked also on the approach towards the EU’s “closest ally” and Trump’s expansionist aims at Greenland to secure raw materials, the High Representative suggested her national homologs speak the language of the transaction as President Trump has done. Other ministers in the room insisted on keeping a low-profile approach. Various strands of thoughts will probably need to result in a clearer common vision when Trump moves from words to deeds.
Ministers also greenlighted a six-month extension of sanctios against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, overcoming Hungary‘s reservations about obtaining guarantees on energy supplies.
Until a few hours before the meeting of the twenty-seven foreign ministers, Hungary was still threatening not to agree to the extension of the framework of sanctions against Moscow, which was due to expire at the end of the month. This was a serious veto, which risked immediately nullifying the fifteen packages of restrictive measures approved so far and allowing Russia to regain possession of the three hundred billion frozen funds.
To meet the demands of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European Commission attached a declaration to the decision in which it pledged to work with Member States to help repair, connect, and stabilize Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that have impact on EU countries. The Commission also stated that it was “ready to continue discussions with Ukraine on European supplies through the pipeline system in Ukraine, in line with Ukraine’s international obligations. In this context, the Commission is ready to involve Hungary (together with Slovakia) in this process. For several diplomats, this is nothing new compared to what has already been planned and implemented.