The EU’s Chargé d’Affaires in Syria, Michael Ohnmacht, said on Wednesday 22 January that the European Union could make a difference in shaping the country’s future.
Explaining that the situation in Syria could become a success or a disaster, the chargé d’affaires stressed that the EU could “make a difference”. “In both cases, with our presence and our commitment on the ground, we can partly shape Syria’s future and move it forward in a fair and inclusive way”, he explained to the European Parliament delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries, acknowledging that Europe was not the only one on the ground.
According to the chargé d’affaires, Europe must help Syria to improve its economy. “We have supported Syria with more than €33 billion over the past 14 years, and what we need to do is maintain our commitment, but also readjust it to the new situation”, he explained, adding that the focus should be on rapid [economic] recovery. According to Mr Ohnmacht, it is important for the EU to include cooperation on economic policy in its cooperation agenda.
While, according to the chargé d’affaires, all discussion partners mention the sanctions in their conversations, on Monday the EU foreign ministers will be discussing the lifting of certain restrictive measures against the country.
Returning to the situation on the ground, the EU representative explained that the situation remained fragile from both a political and a security point of view. According to Mr Ohnmacht, the new government, which will probably be announced at the beginning of March, “will be a great test of the sincerity of the new authorities”. “It will be important to see what colour the new government will be”, he explained, pointing out that the current government was made up almost exclusively of HTS men, with only one woman at the head of an authority, and more a representative of radical Islam. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)