Brussels, 24/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Invited unexpectedly to Geneva on Wednesday 23 March, ahead of a new round of inter-Syrian peace talks, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini underlined to the representatives of they Syrian regime and opposition the importance of these discussions for Europeans, who are faced with an “existential” terrorist threat linked to the Syrian conflict. She also underlined the need to start a political transition in Damascus.
Nearly ten days of new talks in Geneva and it is still the same conflicting demands that are being discussed by the parties involved - the Syrian government on one side, and the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the main alliance of the Syrian opposition, on the other. Trying to find a way out of the deadlock, United Nations Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura has not ceased in his endeavours. Following the attacks in Brussels on 22 March, which were claimed by ISIS, De Mistura took the initiative of asking Mogherini to Geneva so that she could put pressure on the Syrian parties, telling them forcefully that the EU wants the terrorists to be beaten and that a political solution in Syria must be found.
At the end of her meetings with all the parties, Mogherini therefore said, alongside De Mistura, that the Europeans wanted to see progress in the talks for a ceasefire and humanitarian access “consolidated and expanded”. Europeans especially want to see the Syrian parties “enter into the political process, without delays, without games, with the spirit of reaching a solution”, she said. Faced with the terrorist threat from ISIS, which also weighs on Europe, Mogherini said she hoped for progress, “not in the coming months or years, but in the coming weeks”.
In her comments, Mogherini directly targeted the obstacle which has always characterised the talks in Geneva - in other words, the political transition, or to put it another way, the departure of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. This is a prerequisite for the opposition and the last of priorities for the government. The way out of this deadlock could be found in Moscow, as al-Assad's outcome was due to be tackled on Thursday during a visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Mogherini's meetings in Geneva were reported to involve bargaining attempts. According to news agency Reuters, the representative from the delegation of the Syrian government apparently told Mogherini that the EU member states should re-open their embassies in Damascus and lift their sanctions against Syria. The Syrian regime justifies it reluctance to talk about “a political solution” by highlighting the urgency of fighting “all” the terrorists on its territory.
This is an inadmissible argument for the EU, Mogherini stated. “Putting the fight against terrorism on one side, and the political process on the other, has no foundation from our point of view”, she said. “We have to do the two things, and one thing reinforces the other”. This was the “main message” with which Mogherini went to Geneva. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)