In a sudden shift in its policy on Syria, the EU has initiated a process to begin lifting sanctions on the country. The decision was taken yesterday at the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. Previously, German and French Foreign Ministers travelled to Damascus to tell the new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa that the EU was not going to lift sanctions until they see a new political governing set-up. However, the lifting of sanctions can be rolled-back if the Syrian government commits human rights abuses.
Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Norway advocated for the lifting of sanctions on Syria while the Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister said that the removal of Western sanctions on Syria was the Syrian government’s top priority.
Yesterday, at the Foreign Affairs Council, German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock raised the issue that Syrian government forces are committing extrajudicial killings of the previous Alawite officials of the Syrian Army. The Alawites were the sect which Bashar al-Assad and his family was part of. The German Foreign Affairs Minister also announced that Germany would be donating up to €3 million to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Sanctions are to be lifted via a process starting from the lifting of sanctions energy, transport, banking and other essential services. The sanctions on previous regime officials will remain.
Newsroom
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