European Union foreign ministers endorsed a roadmap for the lifting of sanctions against Syria on 27 January during a meeting in Brussels. The ministers agreed to take initial steps towards easing the tough, comprehensive sanctions placed on Syria during the course of its 13-year civil war. Ministers said the EU would first want to see real progress towards establishing a safe and stable government.

Sanctions covering energy, banking and transportation are likely to be the first to come under review, but ministers made it clear that this could change and that nothing is certain without progress on the ground. Easing restrictions on those economic sectors will be crucial for enabling Syria to get back on its feet and rebuild a working economy along with re-establishing business ties with the EU.

Commenting on the agreement reached by EU foreign ministers, Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the bloc is taking a “step-by-step” approach towards easing sanctions. The plan calls for some sanctions to be removed while others will remain in place until the shattered country assumes some form of normalcy.

“Right now, we have a political decision – we have a roadmap,” said Kallas, who previously served as the first woman prime minister of Estonia. “If we see some steps in the right direction, we’re also willing to ease the next sanctions,” she added, emphasising that there are a number of technical issues that must be addressed before any sanctions can be lifted.  

“Because the political will is there, I hope these issues will be solved in the (upcoming) weeks,” she told reporters following the meeting. “We aim to move fast, [but] the lifting of sanctions can be reversed if wrong steps are taken,” she said.

Since the collapse of the Assad regime last December and the ouster of former president Bashir al-Assad by the rebel militia Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS), the EU has become the largest donor of international assistance to Syria.

The Assad regime carried out numerous atrocities against Syria people that were only exacerbated during the course of the war. Not only was Syria overrun with a number of militant factions, as well as the Islamic State organisation (ISIS), the country became a hotbed for criminal activity, including the manufacture of the illegal drug captagon, which was exported in large quantities to the Gulf states.

The sanctions against Syria included a ban on its oil exports as well as access to financial markets. Much of the country’s oil and gas producing region in northeastern Syria is occupied by Syria Kurd forces supported by contingents of US armed forces.  

Huge amounts of financial assistance will be needed to rebuild not just the country’s oil and gas infrastructure but its overall infrastructure in general. HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has been attempting to persuade the EU and other Western countries to lift sanctions so that measures can be taken in an effort to put the country back together. But Western states want to see a government and other institutions first established that reflect Syria’s diverse composition of ethnic and religious groups.