* EU has already imposed several rounds of sanctions
* Europeans frustrated over lack of options to end conflict
By Sebastian Moffett and Justyna Pawlak
NICOSIA/PAPHOS, Cyprus, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The European
Union may impose new sanctions on the Syrian government of
President Bashar al-Assad as soon as next month, EU diplomats
said on Saturday.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said his EU
counterparts meeting in Cyprus had agreed new sanctions were
needed and had tasked Catherine Ashton, the bloc’s foreign
policy chief, with preparing suggestions for talks next month.
“We need to go further in (targeting Syria’s) financial
sector and commercial activities,” Reynders told Reuters after
the meeting in a luxury resort in Cyprus – less than 400
kilometres (250 miles) from Damascus.
The agreement comes amid frustration that Assad is clinging
to power despite a 17-month uprising against him and several
rounds of EU sanctions. These include an arms embargo and travel
bans and asset freezes on around 50 businesses and 150 people.
Ashton said the bloc would also boost its efforts to help
refugees and other victims of the Syrian conflict and support
Lakhdar Brahimi, the new U.N.-Arab League special envoy.
“Sanctions are under review,” Ashton told a news conference
in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, after the meeting.
“Not only to consider whether more sanctions should be taken
but to make sure that the enforcement of sanctions is done
properly and any ability to evade them is dealt with.”
Some 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict,
according to U.N. figures. Ashton cited a figure of 230,000
people who she said had fled the country, mostly to Turkey,
Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.
LACK OF OPTIONS
The EU executive on Friday said it would donate 50 million
euros ($64 million) to help Syrian civilians, adding to the 69
million it has already contributed.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt warned it would be tough
to find areas of the economy where sanctions could have a strong
impact.
“There is very little we can do,” Bildt told reporters.
One other option would be to create a buffer zone shielded
from air strikes but the EU executive has said that would be
impractical without a U.N. Security Council resolution
authorising intervention. Russia and China have so far vetoed
attempts to pass tough Security Council sanctions against Assad.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a week ago that
France and Turkey had identified areas in the north and south of
Syria that had escaped Assad’s control, creating a chance for
local communities to govern themselves without feeling they had
to flee to neighbouring countries.
Other EU ministers were reluctant to support him for now.
“We need to go back to the capitals and see how we feel
about it,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.
“Nobody knows what to do about Syria, other than try to
convince the Syrian opposition to be better united,” he said.
