EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said yesterday in Damascus that the European Union wanted to "upgrade” its partnership with Syria.
"The European Union is using its political and economic tools to help Syria on the path of inclusive and peaceful transition,” Kallas told a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
After the new authorities toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the EU lifted its economic sanctions on Syria and in May this year restored an EU-Syria co-operation agreement. "Now we aim to mobilise even more investment and upgrade our partnership. But that’s also very much dependent on Syria’s side,” Kallas said.
"Aid alone cannot build Syria. Foreign and domestic investment needs trust, and trust needs security, clear rules, rule of law, functioning institutions” and the equal participation of women in society, as well as reconciliation and transitional justice,” she added.
"We are ready to help to build the institutions,” she said.
The 27-nation bloc has launched a new chapter with Syria since al-Assad’s fall, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen telling President Ahmed al-Sharaa in January that Europe would "do everything it can” to support Syria’s recovery.
The country is trying to rebuild, reboot its economy and attract investment after more than 13 years of conflict that killed more than half a mn people and ravaged the country’s infrastructure and industry.
Kallas noted that the EU "is already providing €620mn for recovery, humanitarian needs and strengthening institutions”.
The war also sent millions of Syrians fleeing abroad, and Syrians have made up the lion’s share of asylum-seekers in the bloc over a decade, with a push for large numbers to eventually return home.
Al-Shaibani said that he and Kallas had "discussed several tracks, beginning with achieving a new partnership agreement”.