On Friday 16 February, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini reiterated the EU's support for the Geneva process to put an end to the Syrian conflict.
"We do not see any alternatives to the UN-led process (...) All roads must lead to Geneva. All efforts must be integrated in the UN-led process. And this is the commitment that the European Union and member states share loud and clear", she said at the end of the informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Sofia.
Stating that the previous day's discussion on Syria had especially focused on the additional support the EU could bring the Geneva process, Mogherini reiterated the support that the Europeans are already bringing to the Syrian opposition. "What we have obtained is a more united Syrian opposition", she said, adding that the Europeans were helping the Syrian opposition on daily basis with regard to the Geneva discussions. And although the EU is not in direct discussion with the regime, Mogherini said that "in recent days and weeks", the Europeans have "discussed even more intensely" with the regional actors who have an influence on the regime "to bring it about that it engages credibly" in order "to be able to begin discussing the real content of a political agreement". Mogherini hoped progress would made by April and the second international conference on Syria, which will be held in Brussels on 24 and 25 April.
If this progress is made, the conference – which will be "the opportunity to mobilise both political support for the UN-led process, and humanitarian aid for the Syrians" within the country and in the region – could also bring aid for the reconstruction of the country. "But for this to happen, we must see an improvement on the ground, and that is not what we are seeing at the moment", she said, at a time when the situation seems, by contrast, to be worsening. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)