The EU is laying preliminary groundwork to a wide-ranging lifting of sanctions on Syria, including on transportation, exports of oil and gas, financial and banking activities, according to a non-paper seen by Euronews.
The non-paper - an informal EU document used by member states in closed door negotiations - also says that any possible delisting as terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda related factions such as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), must be decided at UN Security Council level before being implemented by the EU.
“It will depend on our joint assessment of the listed entity HTS and its leader Al-Shara’a and of the evolution on the ground in Syria,” says the paper.
“Any delisting of the group would have to be condition-based, to prevent any risk of terrorism financing and to ensure that Syria does not turn into a place for terrorist groups which foreign fighters would wish to join,” it added.
EU countries want to lift restrictions on airlines, such as the Syrian Arab Airlines, according to the document, to “facilitate civilian flight operations between the EU and Syria”.
A removal of “export ban on oil and gas technology, as well as restrictions on export and participation in infrastructure projects and financing” are among openings proposed in the paper.
Lifted restrictions are also foreseen for “high-value commercial assets, such as vehicles” to enable Syrians to relocate their business in the country.
