Brussels, 03/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 2 February, the EU special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, underlined that he would not give up on his efforts to find a solution to the Syrian crisis. “There is no panacea. It's an impossible mission but even so it has to be done. It's a complex task but we must not give up on it”, he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, adding, with a smile, “we are like in Mission Impossible, we are there to succeed”.
And to succeed, he needs “more Europe”. In De Mistura's view, the EU foreign ministers and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, all of whom he met on 15 January, are aware that it is time for the EU to contribute - by itself or through the United Nations - to a certain type of initiative on stabilising Syria. “A way of achieving it, and there is a lot of discussion around an intervention package. Imagine that Aleppo is frozen [Ed: that the fighting in Aleppo is frozen]. An immediate assistance package and other initiatives to be certain that the people realise what benefit, what change can be produced if everyone can be pushed towards the same thing, not in Aleppo but everywhere”, he said. De Mistura called on the European Parliament to affirm that there is no military solution and that the fighting in Aleppo must be stopped. In his view, this would be a “strong symbol” and another year cannot be allowed to go by with thousands more people killed.
De Mistura reiterated that a military solution to the conflict was not possible. “Everyone has accepted it - Assad and the government, the opposition, and the countries in the region that are involved in the conflict”, he said. In his opinion, the emergence of Islamic State should make everyone understand that a political solution is needed.
Unlike his two predecessors, who favoured setting up big international initiatives, De Mistura has a bottom up approach. “Our approach is different”, he said. He therefore wants the fighting in Aleppo to be frozen. “Everything possible must be done to reduce the level of violence (…), to improve and develop humanitarian aid for the Syrians. We need to try and favour dialogue (…) On the political level, the idea is to create an example so that the people begin to believe in a movement in the reverse direction, hence a freeze in the fighting”, he said. De Mistura stated that to obtain a freeze in Aleppo, negotiations were needed with 18 different groups.
De Mistura also said he supported the meetings that were recently held in Cairo and Moscow, and he reiterated that the Russian government had an influence on the region and that few countries were able to get the Syrian government to come to the negotiating table. “The conclusions are not perfect, but (…) any rough outline of political dialogue between the Syrians, even if it is imperfect if they are not all there, is certainly better than no dialogue at all”. “Any momentum is welcome. It's better than fatalism”, he added. (CG)