Brussels, 15/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 15 February, the EU foreign affairs ministers were unanimous in deeming that the priority was to honour the commitments taken by the international Syria Support Group in Munich four days earlier for a cessation of hostilities in a week and for increased humanitarian access from this week (see EUROPE 11489).
The ministers met as Turkey was bombing the Kurds in northern Syria, as the Russians were continuing their support to the Syrian regime around Aleppo and as tens of thousands of civilians, fleeing the fighting in Aleppo, continued to pile up at the Turkish border.
“There is no reason to change policy. We expect all the parties to honour these commitments and make the cessation of hostilities possible on the ground, beginning with Aleppo, humanitarian access and the start of a political process”, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said at the end of the session. “When we see the gap between the political commitments and the situation on the ground, it is fundamental to ensure the protection of civilians”, she added, deeming that the bombing that took place at the Médecins sans Frontières hospital was “unacceptable”. The EU will continue to press for the respect of international humanitarian law and to work within the taskforce in Geneva, she said.
Mogherini replied to a journalist who raised the issue of the Turkish bombing of a group fighting Daesh: “The EU's position is clear. It's the position of all of us, including Russia and Turkey. The cessation of hostilities is needed against all those who are not Daesh and Al Nostra. Full stop. Otherwise the war will never end. There is no military solution to this war.”
ECHO office soon in Damascas. The ministers discussed the EU's role “which consists mainly of cooperating with the United Nations on the ground to deliver humanitarian aid to the people in need”. An ECHO office (the European Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection department) will soon open in Damascas and will be “operational in the coming weeks”, Mogherini stated.
Together with Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Gerge Bassil, the ministers reviewed the results of the London conference, where the EU was the top donor. They also discussed the aid programmes being prepared in the EU for the Syrian refugees soon to be able to have a better outlook in the region (see EUROPE 11484). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)