Brussels, 12/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 10 February, the Council of the EU authorised frozen Syrian state-owned funds to be used to make payments to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). These funds will be destined in particular for the OPCW Syrian Special Trust Fund for the removal and destruction of Syrian chemical weapons. “We took a decision to make sure that funds that have been frozen in the EU can contribute to the OPCW trust fund to help to try and support the removal and destruction of Syrian chemical weapons”, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on 11 February.
In accordance with Council Regulation 124/2014 of 10 February 2014, amending Regulation 136/2012 of 18 January on restrictive measures due to the situation in Syria, which was published in the Official Journal on 11 February and implemented on 12 February, this additional exemption to the freezing of assets concerns the “funds or economic resources destined exclusively for payments effected on behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic to the OPCW, through Syrian state-owned entities or through the Central Bank of Syria, (…) for activities linked to the OPCW verification mission and the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons”. This includes “in particular to the OPCW Syrian Special Trust Fund for activities linked to the complete destruction of Syrian chemical weapons outside the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic”.
It is the competent authorities of the member states that can authorise the release or accessibility of these funds, but the funds “may only be used (…) if this is requested by the owner of the funds. A member state cannot release the funds to the OPCW without the consent of the owner”, said Ashton's spokesperson, Michael Mann.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) has not been able to give the amount in question because it does not have “a figure for the amount of frozen funds in the European Union that are state-owned”, Mann added. (CG/transl.fl)