The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Germany is taking the lead within the European Union in easing sanctions against Syria following the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the FT, Berlin is pushing for a transition within the bloc if there is progress on social issues.
France’s AFP news agency also reported, citing diplomatic sources, that Germany is aiming to reduce EU sanctions against Syria.
What else do we know about Germany’s proposal?
Just before Christmas, Berlin circulated two documents to EU countries containing proposals for areas where their sanctions could be eased, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Such relief would be phased in and would come at the same time as keeping commitments to protect the rights of minorities and women and ensure non-proliferation of arms, the FT reported.
The report comes a day after the US issued what is known as the Syria General License, which aims to “expand authorization for activities and transactions” in the sanctioned country. The authorization will be valid for six months as the U.S. government “continues to monitor developments on the ground.”
Berlin insisted the EU could temporarily ease restrictions.
Western sanctions against the Assad regime
The United States and the European Union have imposed a number of sanctions against Syria, most of them in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on protests in 2011 that sparked the Syrian civil war.
Since his ouster last month, Syria’s new Islamic authorities have called on the United States several times to lift these sanctions.
German and French Foreign Ministers Annalena Barbock and Jean-Noël Barrault visited Syria last week, becoming the first EU ministers to visit the country since Assad’s ouster.
The two met with Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Damascus.
Germany is considered to have the highest number of Syrian refugees outside of its neighboring countries.
According to the German Federal Statistical Office, approximately 973,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023, of which approximately 712,000 were granted refugee status.
rmt/wd (AFP, Reuters)
