In Brussels, Syria has returned to the forefront of European political debate. Italy and seven other member states have suggested reviewing the European strategy towards the country governed by Bashar al-Assad and a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The aim is to promote a more pragmatic approach that takes into account the central issue of refugees.
“We have raised the issue of Syria,” the head of the Farnesina, Antonio Tajani, told the press, arriving at yesterday’s (July 22) Foreign Affairs Council, chaired by the High Representative of the bloc for foreign policy, Josep Borrell. According to the blue leader, “we must also have a European strategy for that part of the Middle East from where so many refugees are leaving.”
In the midst of the regional crisis, with Houthi attacks reaching as far as Tel Aviv and the Israeli response hitting Yemen, the attention of the Twenty-seven is aimed at avoiding military escalation. Also for this reason, the Forza Italia minister reasoned, it is important to involve as many actors as possible. Including Syria, governed with an iron fist by Bashar al-Assad for 24 years now.
The proposal, signed by Italy, Austria, Czechia, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia, supports the need to recalibrate the bloc’s approach towards the country overlooking the Eastern Mediterranean, aiming for “a more active, results-oriented and operational Syrian policy”. “After 13 years of war (the civil war that broke out in 2011, ed.), we have to admit that our policy on Syria has not aged well,” said Vienna’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
The aim would be to “increase our political influence and the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance”, the document states, which suggests discussing “openly and without prejudice” a dozen topics listed in another text, not yet public. One of the proposals of the eight chancelleries would concern the introduction of a special EU-Syria envoy, to resume diplomatic relations with Damascus (in synergy with other regional partners).
Among the results that the signatory countries would like to obtain, there would appear to be some kind of agreement for the management of migratory flows. In the wake of the strategy, increasingly consolidated in the EU, of externalizing our borders by delegating the control of the movements of refugees and asylum seekers to third countries. As done with Turkey in 2016, or with Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and other states in the North African arc and the Eastern Mediterranean. On the one hand, therefore, facilitating repatriations to Syria, and on the other limiting the number of departures towards Europe.
Furthermore, Minister Tajani stressed, Syria “cannot be left in the hands of Iran and Russia”, echoing his Austrian counterpart according to whom “the Assad regime remains firmly in the saddle, the Syrian opposition is fragmented or entirely in exile” and the EU “can no longer turn a blind eye to this reality”.
A strategy to distance Damascus from Moscow and Tehran, redrawing the boundaries of political influence in the Middle East? An ambitious plan, the realization of which seems rather unlikely at the moment. The violations of human and civil rights perpetuated by the Assad regime against its own citizens are too serious, as are the war crimes committed on a large scale in over a decade of bloody conflict against rebel forces (including the Kurds, first supported and then abandoned by Westerners) and ISIS militants.
At yesterday’s Council, however, the Italian and Austrian ministers were heard (who brought the issue to Borrell’s attention), and according to the High Representative “the work will continue”. The summary of the head of EU diplomacy at the end of the day was succinct: it will be necessary to “be pragmatic, but not naive”. Translated: it is possible to work with the Syrian regime, if there is room for maneuver. We will see in the coming months.
The EU has not definitively pulled the plug on its attention towards the Levantine country, but it is undeniable that there is not the same sense of urgency that there was in recent years, at the height of the civil war and the waves of migration that affected the Old Continent. Last May, in Brussels, the eighth edition of the conference on Syria was held, where international donors announced commitments for 7.5 billion euros, of which 2.12 from the bloc for the two-year period 2024-2025.
