By Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday that he had called for a moratorium on EU sanctions on Syria for six months or one year, but that a final decision could only come from the entire bloc.
Speaking to reporters in Beirut after meeting Syria’s new leaders in Damascus, Tajani said the EU sanctions had been imposed under President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled on Dec. 8 by a sweeping rebel offensive.
“I think that we can begin to change things,” he said. “The next step is the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU and we will talk on this. Italy is in favour.”
That meeting is set to take place in Brussels on Jan. 27.
“A solution should be a moratorium – six months, one year. I put this idea on the table,” Tajani said, but added that “lifting sanctions is not a national decision, they are a European bloc decision”.
Tajani met both the new leader of Syria’s administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and its foreign minister, Asaad al-Shibani. He said they had pledged to address illegal immigration and drug trafficking, issues he described as crucial for Italy.
When asked what specific steps he would like to see the new Syrian administration take ahead of the EU meeting, Tajani said only that “the beginning has been positive” and that the new leaders in Damascus had made “very good declarations … not aggressive speeches”.
France’s foreign minister said this week that EU sanctions that obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid and hindered the country’s recovery could be lifted swiftly.
The United States on Monday issued a sanctions exemption for transactions with governing institutions in Syria for six months after the end of Assad’s rule to try to ease the flow of humanitarian assistance.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alison Williams)
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