EU stresses political solution for Syria crisis

By Yusuf Hatip

BRUSSELS (AA) - There can be no normalized relations with Syria without a political solution under the UN, said the EU foreign policy chief on Monday.

“Only a negotiated political solution -- under the UN auspices -- can bring peace to Syria. This is for us the obvious precondition for reconstruction and for a normalization of relations with Damascus,” Federica Mogherini told the 5th EU-Arab League ministerial meeting in Brussels.

“We will work to support the countries in the region that are hosting so many refugees from Syria,” she added.

Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrians, more than any other country in the world.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and millions more displaced, according to the UN.

Mogherini also announced that on March 12-14, the EU, together with the UN, will convene the Third Brussels Conference on Syria.

“I hope we will all join forces during the Third Brussels Conference on Syria that we will host in this very same room from 12 to 14 March, where we will work in support of the United Nations' mediation for a reconciliation inside Syria,” she explained.

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mogherini said: “I believe, we around this table share the urgent objective to prevent the definitive collapse of the two-state solution and find ways to revive it.”

The meeting in Brussels comes in preparation for the first summit between the EU and the Arab League set for Feb. 24-25 in Egypt

Monday’s meeting was co-chaired by Mogherini, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and Sudan’s Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed.