EU to send envoy for talks with Syria’s new leadership
EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks to the press as she arrives to chair a European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the Europa building in Brussels on Dec.16, 2024. (AFP Photo)
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday that the bloc’s envoy to Syria was going to Damascus to talk to the new opposition-led leadership as Western powers stepped up engagement after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.
“Our top diplomat in Syria will go to Damascus (today). We’ll have the contacts there,” Kallas told journalists ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Kallas said EU foreign ministers in Brussels would discuss “how we engage with the new leadership of Syria, and on what level we engage”.
“We can’t leave a vacuum,” Kallas, who took over as the EU’s top diplomat this month, said.
International players have expressed cautious optimism as the nascent authorities in Damascus have vowed to protect minorities and form an inclusive government.
Diplomats say some EU member states are pushing to step up ties with Syria after Assad’s ouster, while others are more cautious.
“For us, it’s not only the words, but we want to see the deeds going to the right direction. So not only what they are saying, but also what they are doing,” Kallas said.
“I think the coming weeks and months will show whether it goes to the right direction. And I think then we are also open to discuss next steps,” she added.
