Strasbourg, 15/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt, has called for an EU response on Syria, calling for a no fly zone, and he has questioned why an extraordinary Council of the same type that was organised on Mali or Libya has not been put in place for Syria? “I am frustrated and angered that no meeting has been called to discuss measures against Syria (…) What is the European Union doing with regard to Syria? I wonder if we even have a policy at the moment”, Verhofstadt said. “Why is there not a no fly zone? We could have done this 18 months ago”, he said at a press conference.
Hailing what European leaders are doing for Mali, he wondered why they do not have “the courage” to do the same thing for Syria “as soon as possible”. “Do we need another 60,000 deaths for the international community to take action and demand a ban on flying over the territory?” He continued that it is easier to declare this ban and provide shelter to protect refugees now than a few months ago because part of the country is under the control of the opposition. “The situation is often comparable to that of Libya at the beginning of the fall of Gaddafi's regime. Why did we do it in Libya and why is the same intervention not possible in Syria? I am calling for the same European reaction for Syria”, Verhofstadt concluded (our translation throughout). (CG/transl.fl)