Germany pushing EU to ease sanctions on Syria

Germany is at the helm of efforts within the European Union (EU) to ease sanctions on Syria following President Bashar Assad’s ouster, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Berlin is pushing for the move within the bloc, provided it is met with progress on social issues, the FT said.

The French AFP news agency also reported that Germany is seeking to reduce EU sanctions on Syria, citing diplomats.

What else do we know about the German proposal?

Shortly before Christmas, Berlin circulated two documents among EU capitals with suggestions for where the bloc’s sanctions could be eased, the FT said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Such relief would come gradually and would coincide with safeguarding minority and women’s rights, the FT reported, as well as upholding commitments to ensuring non-proliferation of weapons.

The reports come one day after the US issued what it called a Syria General License with the aim of “expand[ing] authorizations for activities and transactions” in sanctioned Syria. The authorization is valid for six months, as Washington “continues to monitor the evolving situation on the ground.”

Berlin argued that the EU could also temporarily ease restrictions.

Western sanctions on the Assad regime

The US and the EU have imposed many sanctions on Syria, most of which were implemented due to Assad’s brutal clampdown on the 2011 protests that sparked the Syrian civil war. 

Since his ouster last month, Syria’s new Islamist authorities have made several calls to the US to lift those sanctions.

German and French Foreign Ministers Annalena Baerbock and Jean-Noel Barrot visited Syria last week, making them the first EU ministers to visit Syria since Assad’s ouster.

The pair met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Germany is considered the non-neigboring country with the biggest number of Syrian refugees.

According to the German Federal Statistical Office, around 973,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023. Some 712,000 of them have been granted refugee status.

rmt/wd (AFP, Reuters)