Statement by Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Syria at the General Affairs Council in Brussels

“Together with our Arab partners, we are pressing for a Security Council resolution on Syria.

I welcome the fact that the Secretary-General of the Arab League and Qatar’s Prime Minister will brief the Security Council on the situation in Syria on Tuesday. We have been calling for this in New York.

There is now a chance that the Security Council will finally take a clear stand on Syria. That is long overdue. The efforts of the Arab League have also lent support to the European initiatives in the Security Council in New York.

We want a resolution which condemns in no uncertain terms the violence committed by the Assad regime.

And we want to press for and support a democratic transition in Syria. The latest decisions adopted by the Arab League and what will hopefully finally happen in New York in the coming days will give a little more force to these two demands.”