The day after the informal Quint Group (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy) met in Rome to coordinate efforts to promote transition in Syria, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said, on Friday 10 January that the EU “could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress”.
A few days earlier, the French minister Jean-Noël Barrot had said that the sanctions which were “hindering access to humanitarian aid” or “preventing the country’s...