While British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was pleased with the "strong international support" for the British, French and US airstrikes conducted in response to an alleged chemical attack from the Syrian regime, and while French Foreign Minister Jean Yves le Drian was pleased with the EU's support and unity "in this time of great gravity", the foreign affairs ministers were fairly moderate in the conclusions they adopted on Monday 16 April.
"The Council understands that the targeted US, French and UK airstrikes (...) were specific measures having been taken with the sole objective to prevent further use of chemical weapons and chemical substances as weapons by the Syrian regime to kill its own people", the ministers stated in their conclusions. While 22 EU member states wear a double EU-NATO hat, the European position is less strong than that of the Alliance, whose members expressed, on Saturday 14 April, "their full support for this action intended to degrade the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter further chemical weapon attacks against the people of Syria".
In its conclusions, the Council is supportive of "all efforts aimed at the prevention of the use of chemical weapons". "This is the position expressed on behalf of the EU at the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)", the ministers stated in their text, which more or less summarises the statement on behalf of the EU28 from High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini that was published a few hours after the airstrikes.
"We understand, but we would like to see (a response) happening through the UN Security Council", Ireland's minister Simon Coveney stated. But for his Luxembourgish counterpart Jean Asselborn, while "all military intervention requires a resolution from the UN Security Council", according to Resolution 2118 of 2013, "in case of non-respect of the resolution", the Security Council "will impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter" which allows use of force; but there would be little chance that Russia "which has used its right of veto twelve times, including six for cases involving chemical weapons" would accept such actions. He stated that the strikes were "a unique operation and must remain so".
"There has been a very strong signal to show the red line", Belgium's minister Didier Reynders stated. For Boris Johnson, it was very important to underline that the airstrikes were not an attempt to change the course of the war in Syria or to have a change of regime. He added that he feared the war in Syria might go on in its horrible, miserable way, but the world is saying we have had enough of the use of chemical weapons.
EU ready to strengthen its sanctions
In their conclusions, the ministers "strongly condemn the continued and repeated use of chemical weapons by the regime in Syria, including the latest attack on Douma (on 7 April), which is a grave breach of international law and an affront to human decency". They called on all countries to use their influence to prevent any further use of these weapons.
Stating that they had already imposed sanctions against people responsible for the development and use of chemical weapons, in July 2017 and March 2018, the ministers warned that the EU was ready to plan on setting up other measures in the future. The Council also called on the United Nations Security Council to rapidly re-establish an independent attribution mechanism "to ensure accountability for perpetrators of chemical weapons' attacks".
In another set of conclusions adopted without debate and focusing on disarmament and non-proliferation, the ministers said that all the latest information from Syria, which was really shocking and which should urgently be made the subject of an independent investigation, only reinforced their common determination as regards disarmament and non-proliferation. It is for the international community to identify the perpetrators of any chemical weapons attack and to require accountability from them, the ministers added.
Returning to political process
More generally, the Europeans deplored the regime's offensive "supported by Russia, which devastated eastern Ghouta", and they called for the immediate cessation of airstrikes, particularly in Idlib and the south of Syria. They added that Turkey's military operation complicated the situation "still" further and was another source of grave concern. The EU urges all parties to the conflict, particularly the regime and its allies, to implement the ceasefire in order to allow humanitarian access and health evacuations. In this context, the outlook of seeing a political solution being reached is becoming more remote, they regretted.
The Council therefore considered that the current dynamic should be drawn upon to relaunch the process aiming to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict, adding that there could be "no military solution" to this conflict. For Mogherini, the paradox is that the more the political solution seems to be becoming remote, the more urgent it is to have a political solution.
Several ministers also expressed this idea when they arrived at the Council. "It was important to send a strong signal (Ed: the airstrikes) and this has been done. Now (it is important) to focus on the peace negotiations", Lithuania's minister Linas Linkevičius stated. Germany's Heiko Maas echoed him. "The events of these last days have clearly shown the whole world that it is now necessary to do our utmost to avoid any escalation (...) and especially to put the political process back on track", he said, adding that "whether we like it or not", it would not be possible to resolve the conflict without Russia. This was a sentiment shared by Asselborn, who stated it was important not "to make the mistake of isolating" Moscow.
For Mogherini, the Brussels 2 conference, on Syria, which will take place on 24 and 25 April, could be "the opportunity to relaunch the UN-led political process", she said at the end of the Council.
Alongside the Council, MEPs held a quick debate on the airstrikes in Syria during their plenary session in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)