On the evening of Monday, 23 September, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini welcomed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s announcement regarding an agreement on the formation of a Syrian Constitutional Committee.
This agreement on the formation of the Constitutional Committee in the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and the Geneva process “is a long-awaited, welcome [piece of] news that gives back hope to the Syrians”, said Ms Mogherini in a statement.
“We look forward to the inaugural meeting of the Constitutional Committee at the earliest possible opportunity and expect that this should represent the start of a process ultimately leading to [the] peace that Syrians so clearly need and deserve,” the High Representative emphasised.
This committee will be composed of 150 members: 50 chosen by the regime, 50 by the opposition, and 50 by the UN to include representatives from civil society. It will have the task of drafting a new version of the Syrian Constitution. According to Mr Guterres, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is expected to convene this committee “in the coming weeks”.
Resolution 2254 defines a three-phase plan to resolve the Syrian conflict: the establishment of a new, inclusive, non-sectarian governance followed by constitutional reform and, finally, the holding of free elections supervised by the United Nations.
In her statement, Ms Mogherini reiterated that the EU had continually maintained that any lasting solution to the Syrian conflict required a genuine political transition in accordance with Resolution 2254 and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué negotiated by the Syrian parties. She indicated that Mr Pedersen has the full support of the EU in his continued efforts.
Furthermore, the EU held a ministerial meeting on the Syrian crisis in New York on 24 September alongside the UN General Assembly. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)