On Saturday 3 December, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini acknowledged that the sanctions against Syria had been ineffective on the conflict.
"I don’t believe that having sanctions (...) has prevented military escalations from happening", she said at a conference in Rome on the Mediterranean Dialogues ("Beyond turmoil: a positive agenda").
Among other things, the European sanctions focus on a visa ban and assets freeze for 234 people, as well as for 69 entities, and on an oil embargo, restrictions on certain investments, and restrictions on the export of equipment and technology likely to be used for the purposes of internal repression.
In Mogherini's view, the sanctions are a possible means for pressure but are having no immediate effect. "They could have a symbolic, political or long-term effect, or one could be pushed to engage in negotiations with a view to lifting them if you start negotiations", she said.
Mogherini says fall of Aleppo will not end the war. During the conference, Mogherini also spoke about the situation in Aleppo. Since the launch of a new offensive by the Syrian regime on 15 November, over 300 civilians have been killed and much medical infrastructure destroyed. "I am convinced that the fall of Aleppo will not end the war", she stated. "No peace process will be easy on the ruins of Aleppo. No-one has an interest in destroying the city, killing other people, and then looking at what we do next. This will only make things worse", she said. She also felt "that we have a political and a moral duty and responsibility" regarding Aleppo, to protect the civilians and to call for a stop to the airstrikes.
Mogherni again highlighted the political path, calling for a change of vision: "we cannot make the political track hostage of the military dynamics on the ground". "So far, we have always worked under the assumption that, first you have to have a cessation of hostilities that allows the humanitarian aid, and then you create the political conditions for having the political talks", she said, adding that "maybe" it is time to sound out regional powers and also international players on what kind of future Syria could have, "even in the moment when the fighting is still is going on in Aleppo and elsewhere". "Many conflicts have found political solutions, negotiating political solutions, even during the fighting", she said.
Mogherini is trying to talk to the regional authorities to bring progress to the political process. In her view, while the future of Syria must be decided by the Syrians, the regional powers "have to allow the Syrians to use this space". What is needed is for the regional powers to agree on what is the "perimeter within which a solution will be acceptable for them. What kind of form of government, what kind of role for the president of the parliament, what kind of decentralisation" and so on, she said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)