29.05.2013

Syria: AFET Chair expresses deep concerns at the Council’s decision over arms embargo

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Elmar Brok harshly criticised the Council’s decision not to prolong the arms export embargo to Syria, in the debate with Irish foreign minister Eamon Gilmore and EEAS Executive Secretary-General Pierre Vimont.

„The United Kingdom has achieved its goal of renationalising community competences in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy. I have serious doubts about the political wisdom of the decision to arm groups whose aims we cannot clearly identify and who could subsequently turn against minorities in Syria, including the Christian minority. Council’s Monday decision will have far-reaching consequences. It means that the European Union has lost credibility in Foreign Policy. The result is that not just the European Union, but also the Member States have lost influence in the world“, Mr Elmar Brok said.