Foreign ministers also discuss easing sanctions against Syria

Syria and the Levant: Building Stability Amidst Shifting Ambitions

The Levant has long been a stage upon which the drama of history has unfolded- a region where empires collided, faiths converged, and civilizations

EU agrees roadmap to ease Syria sanctions in wake of Assad’s downfall

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria while insisting that the measures should be reimposed if they see any abuses by the country’s new rulers. The EU started to impose asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials and organizations in 2011 in response to Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war. The 27-nation bloc targeted 316 people and 86 entities accused of ba…

EU eases sanctions on Syria

The European Union agreed on Monday to start easing sanctions on Syria in light of the ousting of President Bashar Assad in December. At a meeting of European ministers in Brussels, Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, announced a gradual lifting of sanctions, starting in areas key to reconstruction, such as energy, transport, and financial services.Kallas emphasized that the decision could be reversed, however, if “wrong ste…

The European Union wants to give the new rulers in Syria incentives to build a democracy. In Brussels, the EU foreign ministers agreed on a gradual easing of sanctions against the country.

The foreign ministers of the European Union have agreed that a number of sanctions against Syria will be lifted step by step. The EU would like to help the country rebuild after the fall of the Assad regime, but remains wary. European leaders remain cautious: in Brussels, terms such as “incremental” and “temporary and conditional” were used. The lifting of sanctions therefore does not happen immediately. What was agreed today, EU foreign chief K…

European Foreign Ministers agree to start gradually easing sanctions on Syria to support the recovery of the country following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, but they have not yet established the order and speed at which this process will be carried out, because some countries insist on maintaining some pressure on the new regime, to try to influence the direction of their policy. Overall, all countries have long agreed to re-evaluate the san…