AFP, Brussels, 7 Feb 2012 – The European Union stepped up pressure on Syria on Tuesday as several nations recalled their ambassadors from Damascus and the bloc considered new sanctions to cut the regime’s access to cash.
France, Italy, and Spain announced they were bringing back their envoys for consultations, after Britain, Belgium and the United States took similar steps in protest at the regime’s relentless crackdown on protesters.
Paris denounced the ‘worsening repression’ while Rome voiced the ‘firm condemnation and disgust of the Italian government for the unacceptable violence perpetrated by the regime in Damascus against the civilian population’.
Gulf states announced they would also withdraw their envoys, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara will launch a new initiative ‘with those countries who stand by the Syrian people, not the regime’.
The latest moves came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country triggered outrage in the West for rejecting a UN resolution condemning the violence, held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Lavrov said Assad was ‘fully committed’ to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called on Lavrov to use Russia’s influence to pressure Syria into accepting a regional peace plan.
‘We expect Mr Lavrov will use his visit to Damascus to make the regime understand its isolation and to support the Arab League plan, a brave initiative that must be the basis of any solution,’ he said.
The 27-member EU began discussing new measures against Syria’s central bank and a ban on gold and gems after China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution backing the League plan aimed at ending the violence.
‘There’s a long way to go yet, but we’re looking at economic measures which will tighten further the Syrian regime’s access to sources of finance,’ a diplomat said.
Another diplomat said the sanctions could target Syrian central bank transactions as well as a ban on the sale of gold and other precious metals — similar to measures taken against Iran last month.
The EU has already prohibited the delivery of bank notes and coins to the Syrian central bank in a previous set of sanctions approved last year.
A ban on gold and gems had been agreed in principle last year but a final decision was never taken. Diplomats said it was put back on the table this week.
The EU has imposed an asset freeze and visa ban on 108 individuals and an asset freeze on 38 entities. A diplomat said more asset freezes were being discussed.
The bloc is also enforcing an arms embargo and a ban on imports of Syrian crude oil.
The EU’s External Action Service, however, has no plans to withdraw its head of delegation in Syria.
‘We believe it’s important to have people on the ground particularly as there is no free press in the country so that we can report and observe what is going on,’ said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Mann said the EU’s foreign service will continue ‘to do everything we can diplomatically’ with the 27 EU states and international partners ‘to try and bring an end to this totally unacceptable situation.’
The spokesman said the EU continues to support Arab League efforts to end the 11-month-old crackdown, which rights groups say have claimed the lives of about 6,000 people.
‘We think that this should be an Arab-led process,’ Mann said. ‘We call upon the international community to take its responsibilities and to have an international solution to this problem.’