Is it time for the EU to rethink its engagement with Syria?

Good morning. US President Joe Biden last night abandoned his re-election campaign. Read our coverage here.

Back to Europe and news to start: Is Russia expanding its “dark fleet” of tankers to evade western sanctions? Mysterious buyers with suspected links to Moscow have been amassing dozens of vessels capable of carrying liquefied natural gas.

Today, I preview an EU foreign ministers meeting where some are urging a reassessment of relations with Syria, and our Rome bureau chief explains Italian premier Giorgia Meloni’s next moves after twice refusing to endorse Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as European Commission president.

Forgotten war

Brussels is being urged to rethink its engagement with Syria after more than 13 years of war, with a coalition of EU capitals proposing more interaction with the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad to increase “political leverage”.

Context: The Syrian civil war has been fought since March 2011. President Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has largely suppressed his opponents with brutal methods including using chemical weapons, causing huge civilian casualties and displacing millions. The EU suspended relations with Damascus in 2011, and agreed on a Syria strategy in 2017, ultimately aiming for political transition.

Ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers today that will discuss the Middle East, eight capitals including Rome and Vienna have called for the bloc to “review and assess” its approach to Syria, where Brussels donates large amounts of aid to help civilians affected by the conflict.

“Our goal is a more active, outcome-driven, and operational Syria policy. This would allow us to increase our political leverage [and] the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance,” the foreign ministers of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia wrote in a letter to the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell, seen by the Financial Times.

Since 2017, they argue, the stabilisation of the conflict, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and moves by Arab states to normalise relations with the Assad regime have changed the dynamics.

Despite these “significant developments”, the ministers write, “the EU policy towards Syria has not evolved, with the result that the huge humanitarian effort is not translated in a correspondent political role.”

In a separate document circulated to other capitals, the ministers suggest creating an EU Syria envoy that could liaise not only with Syrian actors but also other countries in the region, alongside re-engagement with Assad’s ambassador to the EU in Brussels. 

The ministers also suggest a discussion on the impact of the bloc’s Syria sanctions regime, arguing that “over-compliance in the banking system” was having “unintended negative effects . . . on the [Syrian] population”.

But any moves seen as easing pressure on the Assad regime are likely to be met with resistance from other capitals, given the widespread human rights abuses and war crimes of which it stands accused.

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Melonely

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her party have rejected criticism that their last-minute decision to side with Europe’s far right following the EU elections could drive a wedge between Rome and Brussels, writes Amy Kazmin.

Context: Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party voted against a second term for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last week, after the top EU official had courted Meloni’s votes for months.

Critics have warned that FdI’s opposition to von der Leyen’s re-election — won with the support of centrist parties — could isolate Italy at a time when it’s already grappling with fragile public finances and infringing the EU’s rules over the management of its beaches.

“It is difficult to overstate the implications of this choice,” said Francesco Galietti, founder of Policy Sonar, a Rome-based political consultancy. “Italy was treated very nicely so far, with lots of leniency, but I don’t think that can continue,” he said. “The long period in which Italy got special treatment is over.”

But Meloni rejected the idea that Italy’s not siding with the majority in the European parliament would result in disadvantages. In a video posted on social media, she said that Italy’s importance in Europe would ensure its voice was heard.

In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper, she also insisted that her relationship with von der Leyen would not suffer. “We have co-operated until now, and we will continue to do so in the future,” Meloni said.

Italians will now be keenly focused on what role von der Leyen assigns to Italy’s next commissioner to gauge Rome’s standing. But the more telling test will be the many small decisions Brussels makes on Italian issues in the weeks and months to come.

What to watch today

1. EU foreign ministers meet.

2. Informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers in Budapest.

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