European Union top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Monday said that she hopes EU foreign ministers will be able to agree on gradually suspending the bloc’s economic sanctions on Syria.
The Ministers are to decide on a “roadmap” for a step-by-step approach, Kallas said as she arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Ahead of the meeting, EU diplomats stressed that the sanctions would be suspended rather than lifted as a precautionary measure until developments in the country are more clear.
Kallas said that if the EU begins to gradually lift the sanctions, the new leadership in Damascus must begin to rebuild the country.
“If the steps are going in the right direction we are also willing to make steps on our behalf,” she said.
Kallas added that she is considering to fully re-open the EU’s embassy in Damacus “to really have our eyes and ears on the ground.”(dpa/NAN)
