In return, Syrian authorities will have to set up a democratic transition process and get rid of the Assad administration’s chemical weapons.
The European Union will suspend sanctions on Syria, which “hinder the stabilization of the country,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Monday ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas also confirmed that a decision to “ease the sanctions” on Syria was expected Monday.
“We will decide today to … suspend certain sanctions on the energy and transport sectors as well as financial institutions,” Barrot said.
In exchange, the French official added, Syrian authorities will be required to launch “a political transition which includes all Syrians,” fight back against “any resurgence of ISIS” and ensure “the control and destruction of all stocks of chemical weapons of the [Bashar] Assad administration.”
Barrot and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock traveled to Syria earlier this month to meet with Islamist rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the country’s de facto leader following the downfall of the Assad regime in December.
The EU continues to list al-Golani’s organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as a terrorist organization and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in December warned that the regime change in Syria “offers opportunities but is not without risks.”
Politico
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