EU Foreign Ministers to Discuss Lifting Sanctions on Syria

The EU's foreign policy chief announced on the sidelines of a meeting in Saudi Arabia that European foreign ministers will meet in early February to discuss the lifting of sanctions on Syria. Kaya Kalas stated on Sunday, January 13, before a meeting of senior diplomats from the Middle East and the West and the new Syrian foreign minister, that EU foreign ministers will gather in Brussels on February 8 to decide on how to reduce sanctions against Syria. According to her, any decision by the EU to reduce sanctions will depend on how the new Syrian government is managed, which must include the management of "various groups" and women, and must avoid "radicalization." Kalas emphasized without providing further details: "If we see developments moving in the right direction, we are ready to take the next steps... but if we see that it is going in the wrong direction, we can go back." Germany, which leads the EU negotiations on sanctions, proposed on Sunday that aid to the Syrian people be facilitated, but sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's allies, who have committed "serious crimes" during the Syrian war, should be maintained. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters in Riyadh that Syrians now need quick results from the power transition and added: "We continue to help those who have nothing in Syria, just as we have done throughout the years of civil war." She also stated that Germany will allocate an additional 50 million euros for food, emergency shelters, and medical care in Syria. The German foreign minister announced ten days earlier, after meeting with Ahmad al-Shara, the leader of the new government in Syria, that Europe will support Syria during the transitional period, but "will not take on the financing of new Islamist structures in Syria." The Sunday meeting in Riyadh was the first gathering of Western and regional leaders hosted by Saudi Arabia after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Damascus's request from the West is to lift sanctions to facilitate the flow of international aid. Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, also emphasized on Sunday the importance of lifting unilateral and international sanctions against Syria, adding that these sanctions "hinder the Syrian people's desire to achieve progress and reconstruction." British Foreign Secretary David Lammy participated in the Riyadh talks alongside ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, as well as Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria. According to a statement released by the British Foreign Office, the talks focused on supporting the interim Syrian authorities, including "mechanisms to hold the Assad regime accountable for war crimes committed against the Syrian people." The Syrian civil war ended last month after 13 years, and Bashar al-Assad's government was overthrown in just 11 days during a swift attack by rebel forces led by the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. This group has since formed a temporary government in Damascus. During the civil war and when the Assad regime suppressed protests in 2011, the US, UK, EU, and other countries imposed severe sanctions on Syria. However, the current situation in Syria is complicated due to sanctions imposed on the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group, which was once affiliated with al-Qaeda. As a temporary exemption, the US issued a six-month waiver from its sanctions for transactions with Syrian government entities to facilitate humanitarian aid and enable some energy transactions on the first Monday of the new calendar year.