Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian regime in December, the European Union (EU) has lifted a number of economic sanctions placed on Syria.
“The EU started to impose asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials, banks, agencies and other organizations in 2011, in response to then-President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war,” according to AP News.
The EU believes lifting the sanctions will encourage the new leadership to build a peaceful future. The Council of the EU said that the decision to lift the sanctions “is part of the EU’s efforts to support an inclusive political transition in Syria and its swift economic recovery, reconstruction and stabilisation,” according to a press release.
According to the EU, as part of this decision:
- Economic sanctions on the transportation and energy sectors of Syria will be suspended.
- Funds and economic resources for the Industrial Bank, Popular Credit Bank, Saving Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank and Syrian Arab Airlines will be unfrozen.
- Funds and resources will be made available to the Syrian Central Bank.
- Certain exemptions to the rule against establishing banking relations between Syrian banks and financial institutions will be permitted.
- The EU will now allow transactions related to the energy and transportation sectors, as well as those needed for “humanitarian and reconstruction purposes,” according to the press release.
- The export of luxury goods from Europe to Syria for personal use will also be permitted.
Restrictions on the weapons and surveillance sectors will remain in place for the time being, but the EU has vowed to reassess whether further economic sanctions can be lifted.
The sanctions were originally placed to “deprive the regime of the resources it needs to continue violence against civilians and to pressure the Syrian regime to allow for a democratic transition,” according to the U.S. Department of State.
Now that the regime has fallen, the EU hopes that lifting these sanctions will encourage the new leadership to move toward a democratic future.
“For the new government to be seen as legitimate and worthy of support, Syrians will need to feel their economic conditions improving,” according to the Brookings Institute.
Lifting sanctions on key economic sectors will likely improve economic conditions and allow the country to rebuild without disrupting the fragile transition to the new leadership.
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