The European External Action Service's Chargé d'affaires ad interim to Syria, Gilles Bertrand, warned, on Tuesday 1 September at a hearing at the European Parliament, of “chronic” instability in Syria.
“In Syria, there is chronic instability, basic services are not provided, problems are getting worse and worse, especially in the south, under the control of the regime since 2018”, he told the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, saying that in this region, control by the regime is not clear, as there are many armed groups competing with each other. Added to this is a major economic crisis.
“The country is not really committed to stability; it is a systemically unstable country. If we take a step back, we think that stability would be to keep the current regime, but keeping it without reforms only feeds the country's instability”, Bertrand, who has been based in Beirut for more than a year, warned.
A small positive note, according to the chargé d'affaires: “Russia wants stability and could commit itself to this”.
For Mr Bertrand, there's no question of giving up. “For many, Syria is a tragedy, ‘it's over, there's nothing we can do about it’. This is not true: we risk new waves of refugees, terrorism, regional instability”, he explained.
And if the EU refuses to help with reconstruction as long as there is no political solution, Mr Bertrand said that there are few solutions for the country's future that would not involve Europeans, citing the restoration of trade links and the revival of the country, not only in terms of money but also in terms of expertise. For the chargé d'affaires, the Syrian diaspora in Europe will also be an important link.
“Without the European contribution to reconstruction, it will be extremely difficult for Syria to rebuild itself”, he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)