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To: D. Long who wrote (19525)	12/12/2003 8:25:41 AM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (1) of 793586

EU forges ties with Syria eupolitix.com The EU on Tuesday heralded a breakthrough in economic and trade talks with Syria, distancing itself from Washington’s hardline stance with Damascus. “We managed yesterday in Damascus to reach an understanding on all remaining issues in the negotiations for a Euro-Mediterranean association agreement,” said spokesman for the European Commission Diego De Ojeda. The EU’s 15 member states will now be consulted, with the aim to initial the agreement by the end of the year, he indicated. The reaching of an agreement with Syria will conclude the EU’s series of association agreements with 12 non-EU Mediterranean states. Each pact creates preferential trade terms in exchange for closer cooperation on human rights concerns, terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Syria’s signature of the agreement will require it to lower trade levies and liberalise its economy, a move which the commission believes will bring the EU closer to creating a Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area by 2010. The EU has forged ahead with closer ties with Damascus despite efforts by Washington to isolate Syria on the international scene. The US has accused the regime of harbouring terrorist organisations, developing weapons of mass destruction and damaging peace-making efforts in the Middle East. Last month the US Senate passed a bill imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions on Syria for supporting anti-Israel militants and keeping a military presence in neighbouring Lebanon. President George W Bush, who has the power to veto the proposal, has yet to sign it into law. De Ojeda defended the EU’s position of “constructive engagement” as a “proactive and tangible” way to tackle the region’s problems. “We now have a legal handle,” he said. “Syria will have the legal commitment to work with us against terrorism.” The EU believes that clauses inserted into the trade agreement will also give Europe the platform for dialogue with Damascus on the spread of weapons of mass destruction and human rights.

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