The European Council says the transfer ‘sends a transparent political sign of the EU’s dedication to re-engage with Syria and assist its financial restoration’.
Revealed On 11 Could 2026
The European Council has terminated the partial suspension of a cooperation settlement with Syria, thereby restoring fuller commerce ties with the nation because it seeks to emerge from almost 14 years of struggle.
The council stated on Monday the transfer marked an essential step in direction of strengthening relations between the European Union and Syria.
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The choice “sends a transparent political sign of the EU’s dedication to re-engage with Syria and assist its financial restoration”, the European Council added in an announcement.
On the identical time, the EU’s overseas ministers met in Brussels with high Syrian diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani, kicking off a high-level political dialogue 18 months after the removing of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.
The 27-nation bloc has launched a brand new chapter with Syria after al-Assad was swept from energy in December 2024.
Assembly in Damascus
European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen promised after assembly interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus in January that Europe would “do every part it may possibly” to assist Syria’s recovery.
The fee proposed that EU states absolutely reactivate the bloc’s cooperation settlement with Syria final month.
The deal, which abolished duties on imports of most industrial merchandise from Syria, was partially suspended in 2011 when al-Assad’s regime cracked down on antigovernment protests firstly of a civil struggle.
Syria-EU commerce had peaked in 2010 at greater than 7 billion euros ($9.1bn on the 2010 trade fee).
By 2023, EU imports from the nation had dwindled to 103 million euros ($120m) whereas European exports to Syria stood at 265 million euros ($310m).
On the delicate matter of Syrian refugee returns, Germany, dwelling to the EU’s largest Syrian neighborhood at greater than one million individuals, is on the entrance line.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has embraced harder migration insurance policies as he seeks to counter the far proper, and he triggered a backlash by declaring throughout a go to by Syria’s president final month that he hoped 80 % of Syrian refugees would return dwelling inside three years.
He later clarified this was a determine put ahead by al-Sharaa himself.
