The European Union faces tough questions on the future of EU-Syrian relations following its seventh annual Syria Conference.
The meeting consisted of two days of talks but, ultimately, it appears the EU will maintain what is seen by many as its tense and contradictory status quo.
Over the course of the conference, the EU and other international donors raised a sum of more than €5.6 billion to aid Syrians. While much of the funds will be distributed to Syrian refugees who are in camps outside their country, the EU still faces a dilemma over sending aid to Syrians within Syria itself.
Speaking at a gathering of ministers from Arabic nations, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, confirmed that “the EU won’t waver in its approach to Damascus” and confirmed that sanctions on Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’athist regime will continue.
However, the EU continues to send aid into Syria – on the condition that funds are only used to help civilians in the war-wracked country. This became especially vital in the wake of devastating earthquakes in May that struck the border-region between Syria and Turkey, which is believed to have killed more than 8,000 people in Syria alone.
One Syrian journalist pressed Borrell, asking how the EU could guarantee that any of the aid sent to Syria wouldn’t be lost to corruption and used to fuel the Assad regime’s war machine. Borrell replied that in such cases the EU can “never have a complete guarantee” of all funds reaching Syrian civilians. However, he maintained that “we cannot stop our support” and that the EU can only continue to interact with local UN observers and “keep vigilant”.
The apparently increasing normalisation of the Assad regime’s relations with other countries is now pushing such issues to the fore.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2012, although it has effectively remained in stalemate since 2018, despite intermittent flare ups. Following a wave of pro-democracy protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the situation quickly descended into a civil war between the authoritarian Assad regime and an array of primarily Islamist rebel groups. Emerging victorious with Russian and Iranian backing, the Assad regime remained an international pariah.
That position shifted last month when Assad and his Syrian Arab Republic were welcomed back into the Arab League – a regional organisation that includes most of the Middle East and North Africa.
For much of the West, the Assad regime should face accountability for wartime atrocities.
However, the UN Syrian envoy told the Syria Conference that, while the “the causes and consequences of the conflict are still not being comprehensively addressed”, the EU and the wider international community “are at an inflection point” regarding the country.
