Europe divided over Syria arms embargo
19 Feb 2013 5:53 AM IST
Britain, apparently backed by a handful of European Union allies, is fighting to lift an EU arms embargo barring the supply of weapons to the Syrian rebel coalition battling President Bashar al-Assad.
As EU foreign ministers go into a daylong meeting on the issue on Monday, the internal row remains unresolved despite weeks of talks that diplomats from member states describe as both ‘difficult’ and ‘divisive’. But time is running out to resolve the dispute.
The EU's wide-ranging sanctions against Syria, including the arms ban but also targeting scores of Assad cronies and regime-friendly firms, as well as oil, trade and finance, expire at the end of the month and a deal to renew the package requires unanimity. Britain and France had seen the March 1 deadline as an opportunity to respond to requests for weaponry by the opposition.
But France appears to have cooled, leaving Britain facing opposition from Germany, Sweden and even the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, a British baroness who represents London on the European Commission.
‘Delivering arms might bring about a new military balance on the ground,’ said an internal paper on the matter drafted for the member states by Ashton's service.
As EU foreign ministers go into a daylong meeting on the issue on Monday, the internal row remains unresolved despite weeks of talks that diplomats from member states describe as both ‘difficult’ and ‘divisive’. But time is running out to resolve the dispute.
The EU's wide-ranging sanctions against Syria, including the arms ban but also targeting scores of Assad cronies and regime-friendly firms, as well as oil, trade and finance, expire at the end of the month and a deal to renew the package requires unanimity. Britain and France had seen the March 1 deadline as an opportunity to respond to requests for weaponry by the opposition.
But France appears to have cooled, leaving Britain facing opposition from Germany, Sweden and even the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, a British baroness who represents London on the European Commission.
‘Delivering arms might bring about a new military balance on the ground,’ said an internal paper on the matter drafted for the member states by Ashton's service.
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