The President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Nasr al-Hariri, met with the European Union’s delegation for Syria to discuss the situation in the country and regional and international developments.
The meeting brought together SOC’s Vice-president Ruba Habboush, the Coordinator of the Department of Foreign Relations Abdulahad Asteifou, the Political Director of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Carl Hallergard, the EU’s Delegate to Syria Gilles Beltrand, and the Head of the Political Section at the EU Delegation to Syria Anne Bourlond.
Hariri thanked the European Union for its stance on the election farce that Assad held last month, calling for the EU to assume a more active role in Syria.
Constitutional provisions
He talked about the need to put an end to the Assad regime’s slackening of the work of the Constitutional Committee as no date has been yet set for the sixth session. Moreover, no tangible results or progress have been so far made in discussing constitutional provisions.
Hariri reaffirmed the SOC’s rejection of the presence of militias and terrorist organizations in eastern and western Syria, stressing the need to force all foreign fighters out.
He also stressed that allowing humanitarian access is crucial for the lives of four million people in northwestern Syria, reaffirming the need to find an alternative solution by the international community to confront the Russian veto.
Asteifou also reiterated the importance of opening humanitarian crossings.
He also stressed the need for following up on the decision by the Greek Ministry of Migration to consider Turkey a third safe country for asylum seekers, emphasizing the importance of reconsidering the decision so as it does not negatively affect the Syrian asylum seekers.
Moreover, Asteifou called for following up on the situation of Syrian refugees in Denmark as he stressed the need to follow up on Brussels’ latest decisions on refugees on European territory. He called for the reversal of the Danish government’s decisions issued against hundreds of Syrian refugees and that might lead to their deportation.
For its part, the EU delegation underlined that the attack that targeted Afrin last week is a terrorist act, reiterating the need to put an end to attacks against civilians.
The EU delegation also acknowledged the importance of opening the humanitarian crossings, pointing out that the EU is seeking to cooperate with the concerned parties, including Turkey, the United Nations office in Ankara, and Gaziantep to protect the humanitarian crossings from political influence as it is a purely humanitarian issue.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
