Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, took part in the Brussels IV Ministerial Conference, co-chaired by the EU and the UN.

The minister of state reiterated France’s call - consistently underscored by Jean-Yves Le Drian - to guarantee full, safe and unrestricted humanitarian access so that the 12 million vulnerable Syrians can benefit from the assistance they desperately need in order to survive. As such, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne reaffirmed the critical importance of the cross-border aid delivery mechanism in Syria. He called for the members of the UN Security Council to demonstrate unity and responsibility in order to ensure that the mechanism is renewed in northwestern Syria and re-established in northeastern Syria.

He said that France, for its part, would maintain its contribution to the humanitarian response. Between 2020 and 2022, €845 million will be allocated to support the Syrian people and countries that step forward to take in refugees, notably Lebanon and Jordan. This financial effort includes €208 million in donations and €637 million in loans. He stressed that the EU was the leading contributor to humanitarian aid for Syria. Since 2011, Europeans have contributed nearly €20 billion.

On the sidelines of the conference, France co-hosted an event on the fight against impunity for crimes committed by Syria, which is one of our diplomatic priorities with respect to the Syrian conflict and a prerequisite for a lasting peace in Syria. EU sanctions against the perpetrators of repression in Syria are in this regard one of the main instruments to combat human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.