Federica Mogherini met with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura

Federica Mogherini met with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura

Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, met yesterday evening in Brussels with the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

They discussed the latest developments in the Syria crisis and the upcoming high-level meeting on Syria which the EU will host in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on 26 September.

The High Representative and the Special Envoy specifically focussed on the situation in Idlib and Northern Syria, the ongoing work to support the Syrian people there and the imperative of preventing a full-scale military offensive and the humanitarian catastrophe that would ensue. The High Representative and the Special Envoy exchanged views about their outreach to the Astana guarantors, whom they call on to preserve the de-escalation zone in Idlib.

They also discussed the preparations in Geneva for the creation of a constitutional committee in order to restart the process for a political transition in Syria and the ways in which the European Union can support this process, including efforts to get the parties to the conflict back to the negotiation table.

High Representative Federica Mogherini reiterated the long-standing EU position on reconstruction: the European Union will be ready to assist in the reconstruction of Syria only when a comprehensive, genuine and inclusive political transition on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 (2015) and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, is firmly under way.

They agreed to stay in contact in the run up to the UN General Assembly, where they will meet again.