Sopot, 05/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - With the repression showing no sign of easing in Syria, the European Union is not ruling out further sanctions against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, after the imposition of an oil embargo. European foreign ministers said at their informal Council meeting in Sopot, Poland, on Saturday 3 September that they were working on a new UN resolution.
High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton said that the EU would continue to exert pressure and to look for ways to do so. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said: “The EU must assume its responsibility for protecting civilians against the violence of dictators. We suggested to Assad that he begin a reform process, and he did nothing. So we have to speed up regime change and toughen sanctions”. France will continue to work in the United Nations for “explicit condemnation of the Syrian regime and to work with the opposition”, Juppé stated. Trinidad Jimenez of Spain also said that the Syrian opposition had to be helped so that the people of that country can have a choice in future. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that further sanctions could prove necessary. “If, despite everything, the repression continues, it cannot be ruled out that further measures will be discussed in Europe”, he told journalists, an AFP wire reports.
Ashton hailed European assistance “on humanitarian and economic issues” in Libya's transition to democracy. “Member states want to give themselves the means to prepare Libya for the post-Gaddafi period. … They want to work with the Transitional Council in implementing its political roadmap”, said Juppé. The next Friends of Libya conference is scheduled to take place in New York on 20 September, the French minister said. (V.W./transl.rt)