by Claire Rosemberg

LUXEMBOURG, April 23, 2012 (AFP) – The European Union turned its sights on the Assad couple’s luxury lifestyle Monday, banning the export of luxury goods as part of a new round of sanctions to punish the regime’s continuing violence.
In their 14th round of EU sanctions against Syria in the past year, foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc agreed to ban luxury exports and further restrict the sale of items used to repress dissidents.
Russia, which has agreed to the presence of UN truce monitors, at the weekend condemned the idea of new EU sanctions.
’Our position concerning such sanctions is well known,’ said foreign affairs ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich. ’We judge them unacceptable from the point of view of international law.’
But European ministers and diplomats said the new restrictive measures were a direct response to the continuing violence in Syria, despite the presence of UN truce observers in the country.
’It is very important for us to keep up that pressure, step up that pressure,’ said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. ’They are not in full compliance of the ceasefire requirements of the (Kofi) Annan plan.’
A total 30 observers are expected in Syria in coming days pending the arrival of an expanded team of up to 300 observers as part of a truce brokered by Annan.
Despite a lull in the fighting in regions visited by the monitors, violence has continued elsewhere, with at least 28 people killed at the weekend, including five soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
The United Nations has said that more than 9,000 people have died since the revolt against Assad’s regime broke out in March last year.
’The ceasefire must be respected, so reinforcing the sanctions is a key factor,’ said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.
But EU ministers appeared to diverge in their views of Annan’s chances of success.
’It is hard to be optimistic after everything that has happened in the last 13 months in Syria and the Syrian regime continues to fail to implement key aspects of the ceasefire,’ Hague told reporters.
’This is a regime that is continuing in some cases to kill, to abuse and that only implemented a ceasefire at the last possible moment,’ Hague added.
His influential Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt said there were ’plus and minuses obviously, some things have moved forward, some things have not.’
’The Annan plan is the only way forward,’ he added, as Austria’s Michael Spindelegger dubbed it ’a turn around’, saying: ’This is a very positive momentum and we have to use it.’
On the new sanctions, diplomats told AFP that the exact scope of the luxury goods affected would be defined in the next fortnight but that the ban was a symbolic blow at the high-end tastes of President Bashar al-Assad and his glamorous British-born wife Asma.
’The Assad couple, as well as his inner circle and leaders of the regime must be made to understand that events in Syria will also impact their personal lives,’ a diplomat told AFP.
The EU a month ago tightened the noose on Assad’s family, slapping a travel ban and asset freeze on his wife, mother and sister in the 13th round of EU sanctions in a year.
His immediate family were among 12 people and two oil companies added to an existing EU blacklist totalling 126 people and 41 firms or utilities.