The European Commissioner whose responsibilities include crisis management, the Belgian Hadja Lahbib, has arrived in Damascus for a meeting with Syrian leaders. Ms Lahbib’s visit is the first by a European Commissioner since the fall of the regime of Bashir al Assad on 8 December 2024. The former Belgian Foreign Minister announced an EU aid package for Syria and some neighbouring countries totaling 235 million euro “to show that Europe wishes to help the Syrian people”.
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Belgian EU Commissioner is the first member of the European Commission to visit Syria since the fall of the Assad regime
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On the social media platform X, Ms Lahbib wrote “Arriving in Damascus, Syria, a country bubbling with hope & optimism for a brighter future. But also with immense needs — nearly 17 million people need humanitarian aid. I am here to make sure these people get the urgent help they need”.
Ms Lahbib message to the Syrian authorities is a call for a peacefull transition and for a government that is inclusive and reflects “Syrian society in all its diversity”. Hadja Lahbib’s responsabilites as EU Commissioner also include equality and she is keen to stress the need to protect the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities in post-Assad Syria. Ms Lahbib said that this will be a condition to the EU lifting sanctions against Syria. The EU imposed economic sanctions on Syria in 2011. The lifting of the sanctions will be one of the subjects discussed during Hadja Lahbib’s meeting with Syria leaders. The European Union hopes to be able to lift the sanctions and in so doing help Syria to rebuild following the country’s many years of civil war.
Ahead of her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is regarded as the de facto leader of Syria, Ms Lahbib announced a 235-million-euro EU aid package for Syria and some of its neighbours. Of this, 142.5 million euro will be given over to projects in Syria. "We have high expectations for Syria and we hope to see change come”, the Belgian EU Commissioner said.