Brussels, 18/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 18 December, the European Council stressed the determination of the EU to “continue its active engagement in the International Syria Support Group and in the Global Coalition against IS/Daesh”.
In the conclusions they adopted, the leader stressed that they fully support the efforts of the International Syria Support Group to end the conflict through a political process in line with the 2012 Geneva Communiqué. The third meeting was incidentally held in New York in parallel to the European Council. “There cannot be a lasting peace in Syria under the present regime”, the leaders stress. When asked about his hopes of a forthcoming solution to the crisis, the French President, François Hollande, replied that 250,000 people were dead, there were enormous numbers of refugees and massacres. “It is not hope that we need, but rather perseverance, will and abnegation”, he added.
In their conclusions, the leaders also stressed that they fully support the efforts of the Global Coalition to “defeat the regional and global threat posed by Daesh”. Hollande, who called for European solidarity under article 42.7, stressed the “enormous solidarity and mobilisation” of the Europeans “to give us the response we need on the ground”. “We are joining forces against Daesh and we are making sure that everything Daesh is able to traffic - oil, works of art - can be annihilated”, he added. He said that the intensification of operations had dealt “serious blows” to IS in Iraq and Syria, also as regards their resources. “We need to convince Russia and Iran that it is vital to fight Daesh and to adopt the sole objective of eradicating it and that on that basis, talks can start with the opposition, which itself is certain that Daesh is the main enemy, but that there can be change in Syria”, he added.
The European Council states that it “looks forward” to the Syria Conference to be co-hosted by Germany, Norway, Kuwait, the United Kingdom and the UN on 4 February 2016. This conference will focus on the humanitarian aspect. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)