EU ready to ease some sanctions against Syria

EU ready to ease some sanctions against Syria

BRUSSELS
EU ready to ease some sanctions against Syria

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has aid she expected the bloc to agree to begin easing sanctions on Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

“It is a step for step approach,” Kallas said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels to discuss the move.


Europe is keen to help the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and build bridges with its new leadership after the end of the Assad family’s five-decade rule.


But some EU countries worry about moving too fast to embrace the new Islamist-led rulers in Damascus.
The 27-nation EU imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad government and Syria’s economy during its civil war.


Brussels said that it is now willing to ease sanctions on the expectation the new authorities make good on commitments to form an inclusive transition.


“If they are doing the right steps, then we are willing to do the steps on our behalf as well,” Kallas said.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU could start by suspending sanctions on the energy, transport and banking sectors.


He added that France would also propose slapping sanctions on Iranian officials responsible for the detention of French citizens in Iran.


Diplomats say the EU will only suspend the sanctions and not lift them definitively to maintain leverage over the Syrian leadership.


If a political agreement is announced, European officials would proceed to work on the technical details of a suspension.


Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remain under EU sanctions. There was still no discussion about lifting those designations, as with others on the Assad regime.