EU demands Syria ensure rights before lifting sanctions

Aqaba (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Union will not withdraw sanctions on Syria before its new government ensures minorities are not oppressed and women’s rights are shielded within a unified administration that rejects religious extremism.

The European Union’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, talked to journalists after sitting in a meeting in Jordan on 15 Dec 2024 that brought together regional and Western forces to consult Syria’s post-Assad future.

Why is the EU delaying sanctions relief for Syria?

As reported by Reuters, she said,

One of the questions is whether we can, in the future, look at the adaptation of the sanctions regime. But this is not the question of today, but rather in the future, where we have witnessed that the measures go in the right direction.

The European Union has in place a strict sanctions regime against Syria; the rebel party that led the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has also been under sanctions for years, confusing issues for the international community.

The European Union’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also said that an upcoming EU foreign ministers assembly in Brussels, which had Syria on the schedule, would not consult on expanding financial backing to the country beyond that already delivered by the EU via the United Nations agencies. Kallas said the EU was already the largest contributor of humanitarian aid to Syria.

“We need to examine what more we can accomplish. But as I state, it can’t come as a blank cheque,”

Kallas said.

What actions does the EU expect from Syria’s interim leaders?

European Union’s top diplomat stated,

Syria confronts a hopeful but indefinite future. Syria’s latest interim leaders had pushed positive signals, but these were not sufficient.

They are considered by the deeds, not only the observations. So the future weeks and months will reveal whether their acts are going in the right path,

Kallas expressed.

“What everybody is glancing at is, of course, the condition of women and girls also, which indicates the society and how it moves, how the institutions are formed so that there is a management that takes on board everybody,”

she said.

How does Kaja Kallas emphasise accountability for Assad’s crimes?

Moreover, human rights bodies state tens of thousands died under the Assad family’s authoritarian government, and the deposed president had to be held responsible, Kallas expressed.