A six-phase “road map” prepared by the EU’s foreign service advocates a “staged approach” to lifting sanctions on the country “to incentivise peaceful transition and reconstruction”. An arms embargo, sanctions on equipment used for internal repression and measures targeting Assad regime officials would be exempt, the document states.

Under Assad, Syria became one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world. After Assad, the EU wants to inject fresh dynamism. View on euronews

The European Union may soon suspend sanctions on Syria related to energy and transport but has yet to agree on whether to ease restrictions on financial transactions, according to three diplomats and a document seen by Reuters.

EU sanctions include bans on oil imports from Syria, as well as a ban on investment in the Syrian oil industry and a freeze on any Syrian central bank assets in the EU. The proposed roadmap indicates some existing sanctions, including those related to arms and entities linked to the Assad regime, would not be suspended.

FILE PHOTO: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas looks on, during her visit to attend a meeting on Syria, following the recent ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo