”The EU decision is reversible and conditional on progress,” explained EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Days after a similar move by U.S. President Donald Trump, EU Foreign Ministers agreed Tuesday to lift all economic sanctions against Syria while maintaining those related to Assad’s regime and human rights violations.
Eu foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stressed during a press conference following the ministers’ gathering in Brussels that the EU decision ‘’is reversible and conditional on progress’’.
‘’There can be no peace without the path to economic recovery, and we all need a stable Syria. Is everything ideal there? No, it is not. It is very clear. But I think we need to give the Syrian people a chance,’’ she said.
Following the fall of the Assad regime, the EU has adopted a gradual and reversible approach to the new authorities in order to support Syria’s transition and economic recovery.
The EU said it will continue to monitor developments on the ground, including progress on accountability with regard to recent violence outbreaks, as well as the effects of the decision to lift the sanctions.
In February, the EU already eased sanctions related to energy, transport and reconstruction, as well as associated financial transactions but some member states apitals have argued that the measures were insufficient to help support Syria’s political transition and economic recovery.
“The European Union wants to make a fresh start with Syria… but we also expect an inclusive policy within the country that includes all population groups and religious groups,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a written statement.
In the meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that Syria could be weeks away from a fresh civil war of “epic proportions,” as he called for support to the transitional leadership.
He blamed a resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group in areas outside of the transitional government’s control, as well as Iran.
He told a US Senate hearing that the government, “given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks — not many months — away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up.”
Rubio spoke after a series of bloody attacks on the Alawite and Druze minorities in Syria, where Islamist-led fighters in December toppled then-president Bashar al-Assad.
On a visit to Saudi Arabia last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the lifting of Assad-era sanctions and met with the jihadist leader who is now Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.