In a remarkable step, German Foreign Minister Analina Perbuk visited with European Parliament Speaker Armen Lashhet, on March 20, Damascus, during which President Ahmed Al -Shara and Foreign Minister Asaad Al -Shaibani met, during which she confirmed the support of Syria.
The visit also witnessed the reopening of the German embassy in Damascus 13 years after its closure, and the appointment of the German envoy to Syria, Stefan Shanik, as the embassy’s work until the appointment of an ambassador later.
This is the second visit from Perbook to Damascus after its first visit with the French Foreign Minister on January 3, which at the time formed an attempt to explore the identity of the new administration and its ability to secure stability after the fall of the Assad regime.
The visit was also not devoid of firm messages to Damascus, in which she stressed the need to protect minorities and restore security, and linked the lifting of sanctions to the extent of Damascus’s commitment to the path of political transition and the participation of all components of the Syrian people in the government.
In this report, we discuss the local and regional contexts of these European moves, its strategic and political connotations, and the goals that Europeans envision from the path of rapprochement with Damascus.
The timing of European moves
The opening step of the German embassy in Damascus reflects the desire of the Europeans to open up to the new administration in Syria, especially since this step came after a series of local and regional developments that formed the features of the Syrian political scene in the transitional phase.
These developments began with the convening of the victory conference on January 30, which witnessed the appointment of Ahmed Al -Shara as head of the transitional stage, then the National Dialogue Conference followed him on February 25, and on March 6, Damascus managed to abort the attempt of the Assad regime’s remnants with the regional parties to the coup against the new administration in the Syrian coast, summoning external intervention and detonating sectarian conflict.
The German minister’s visit also came, after the signing of the Sharia President and the Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, “SDF”, Mazloum Abdi, on March 10, an agreement to integrate Qasd into the Syrian government.
During the visit, Perbok praised the agreement that came A week after the issuance of the constitutional declaration on March 13, which strengthened German and European confidence in the path of the transitional phase and its steps, which the European Union seems to meet with more steps to open up to Damascus based on a step -by -step principle.
On February 24, the European Union announced its suspension of sanctions related to the energy and banking sectors and transportation to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.
The visit also comes 3 days after the European Union pledged at the Brussels of Donors Conference, which was held March 17 to provide 2.5 billion euros to support the Syrians inside Syria and in the region in 2025 and 2026. Germany alone has also pledged to provide new assistance to Syria of 300 million euros.
Russia is not attempts to restore its relations with Damascus and Iranian attempts to destabilize Syria in isolation from the visit and its goals.
The goals of German and European openness
European and German moves aim in the escalating openness of openness towards Damascus to achieve European interests at all political, economic and security levels, in light of a general western evaluation that adheres to the convergence of the transitional phase in Syria on a strategic opportunity to redraw the map of balances in the region and Europe restore its active role in its near vicinity.
- Restore European influence in the vicinity
European endeavors, led by Germany, express openness and rapprochement with Syria, a desire to restore an active role after many years before the Syrian revolution, which witnessed a European failure to win Damascus to the western camp.
This engagement also comes as a reaction to the emptiness left by the United States, prompting Europe to deal directly with the new administration in Syria to ensure its interests.
This move is related to a broader context related to the new long -term European defense strategy, and in some of its details not to leave the Syrian scene again to Russia and Iran, in addition to securing the maritime borders with the countries of the Mediterranean.
This strategy is based on strengthening defensive capabilities, holding alliances, reviving Europe’s influence in its vital environment, which is part of Syria, especially after the challenges faced by the continent due to Trump’s negative policies towards the security of the European continent, the permanent Russian threat to the continent’s security, and the prevention of the emergence of ISIS again in the region, and this makes Syria a basic pillar in the European strategy.
- Preventing the return of Russian influence
It seems that Moscow is reading European moves well, especially after Perbook’s statements before its first visit to Damascus, which demanded the latter to get the Russian forces out of Syria, which prompted President Putin to send a message to the President on the same day that Perbook arrived in Damascus on its second visit.
In his message, Putin expressed his support for the government’s efforts to stabilize the situation in the country and Moscow’s willingness to cooperate with Damascus, after the negative Russian statements towards Damascus in the UN Security Council against the background of the coast events, and that Moscow played a negative role in it by receiving the regime’s remnants at the Hmeimim base.
In light of the competition with Russia, which seeks to preserve its military bases, and Turkey, which supports the Syrian government, it seems that Germany wants to be part of the formation of the Syrian future instead of leaving regional powers only.
With the escalation of tension between the United States and Iran in the region, Germany and the European Union reject Iran’s attempts to restore its influence in Syria by collecting the remnants of the former regime and reproducing its arms, especially in the Syrian coast on the Mediterranean.
The German minister has directly accused Iran of being one of the main parties that violate Syrian sovereignty and stand behind the recent events in the coast.
- Stability allows the return of refugees
Germany receives the largest number of Syrian refugees in the European Union, as they numbered about 973 thousand Syrians at the end of 2023.
It is clear that the German and European political and economic support of Damascus aims to contribute to building a sustainable stability that allows the return of refugees, or at least not to export more of them, to gradually reduce sanctions, provide humanitarian aid and rebuild Syria, and support a comprehensive political process for all components of the Syrian people.
In this context, the German Ministry of the Interior announced on February 18 that it is still working to develop a solution to “enable Syrians to take short -term trips to their homeland without losing their protection status in order to evaluate the situation there in preparation for a permanent voluntary return.”
- Far -range economic goals
Syria’s location on the historic silk road gives it great importance to the European Union.
The European move to search for an alternative to Russian gas, as well as American gas, may enhance Europe’s specifically desire to search for a foothold in Syria, especially that the Syrian territorial waters contain a large stock according to technical studies, but it has not yet been excavated from the gas.
The Syrian government may abolish the gas exploration agreement with Russia, which signed in 2013 if Damascus obtained an offer from Germany, which has advanced technology in gas exploration and extraction, and in this context we can witness the revival of the European -Syrian Partnership Agreement, which was frozen by the former regime in 2009.
Gradual
German and European steps towards Damascus are a turning point in Syrian -European relations, driven by strategic interests that include an attempt to fill the negative American void towards Syria, and cut off the road to Russia’s attempts to return to its influence and confront Iranian attempts to destabilize after losing the strategic by the fall of the Assad regime.
It seems that European relations with the Sharia president administration have gradually evolved since last December, as European confidence in Damascus was strengthened after a number of steps that Syria has planned, such as the national dialogue and agreement to integrate SDF into the government.
The Sahel crisis constituted a major challenge to the relationship, but the Sharia initiative to form a national investigation committee and a body to preserve civil peace and act with responsibility and transparency, and the European Union’s belief in the presence of Iranian Iyad, which blew up events in the coast, will contribute to its transcendence, which led the European Union to hold the responsibility of what happened the remnants of the Assad regime.
The reopening of the German embassy, which was closed in 2012, shows initial confidence in the stability of the new administration and its ability to lead a transitional phase, with a sign of European readiness to support this transformation, and it is in its content a political recognition of the transitional administration of the Sharia president.
Today, Germany is the strongest country in the European Union, led by its new advisor, Fredchrich Marts. And if it takes advanced political steps towards Syria, this means that Europe will catch up with it, and European countries can continue to open their embassies in Damascus and restore the activity of their diplomatic relations with Syria.
Syria has an important opportunity to reshape its relations and balances with European countries, which can accelerate the process of recovery in the country and opens the doors to the transition from the path of humanitarian support to the path of reconstruction that depends on the completion of other files, most notably the formation of a comprehensive government and the start of the transitional justice path to creating the conditions for the return of refugees.
(Tagstotranslate) Politics (T) Europe (T) Syria (T) Arabic