EU Re-Engages With Syria
March 15, 2007
On Wednesday, the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, met with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad as well as the foreign minister and the vice president.
Speaking at a press conference in Damascus after the meeting, Solana said he told Assad to make a "maximum effort" to ensure implementation of the UN resolution 1701 that ended last year's 34-day war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which is backed by Syria.
Lebanon, where Syria was the power broker for decades, is in the grip of a paralyzing political crisis with deep divisions between the anti-Syrian government and the pro-Syrian opposition, led by Hezbollah.
Javier Solana said he had called on Syria to crack down on alleged smuggling of arms across the border into Lebanon.
"This is fundamental to reach peace, stability and independence of Lebanon," he said.
The EU's top diplomat said he hoped to return to Damascus for another round of discussions, but implicitly linked it to Syria's taking the "proper decisions" and its willingness to cooperate on the peace process and on the stability in the region.
EU changes policy direction
Solana's visit marks a thawing in the relationship between the EU and Syria. Official EU contacts with the country have been frozen since the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut in 2005. That attack was widely blamed on Syria, which continues to deny any involvement.
Solana's visit to Damascus comes after France dropped its objections to EU contacts with Syria; French President Jacques Chirac was a close friend of Hariri.
But at the Damascus press conference, Solana avoided a question on whether the EU would completely end the isolation imposed on Syria, saying the important thing was that "we are now here, and we are talking in a frank and clear way and look towards the future in a more constructive way."
At the press conference held jointly with the EU official, Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem applauded Solana's talks with Assad and other Syrian officials as "fruitful and constructive" and stressed that Syria supported the full implementation of resolution 1701.