EU to agree easing Syria sanctions

BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she expected the bloc to agree Monday to begin easing sanctions on Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

“It is a step-by-step approach,” Kallas said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels to discuss the move.

Europe is keen to help the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and build bridges with its new leadership after the end of the Assad family’s five-decade rule.

But some EU countries worry about moving too fast to embrace the new Islamist-led rulers in Damascus.

The 27-nation EU imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the Assad government and Syria’s economy during its civil war.

Brussels says it is now willing to ease sanctions on the expectation the new authorities make good on commitments to form an inclusive transition.

“If they are doing the right steps, then we are willing to do the steps on our behalf as well,” Kallas said.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU could start by suspending sanctions on the energy, transport and banking sectors.

Diplomats say the EU will only suspend the sanctions and not lift them definitively to maintain leverage over the Syrian leadership.

Syria’s new de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the Islamist group he led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remain under EU sanctions.

Diplomats said there was still no discussion about lifting those designations, as with others on the Assad regime.