He made the statement during a visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
"We have been having regular contacts at different levels, including ministerial meetings. The last one took place in February 2019 in Brussels. ... Since then, unfortunately, the meeting has had to be postponed. The last time it was scheduled for this week, and it had to be postponed due to the readmission of Syria on the Arab League," Borrell said.
He added that despite the fact that it is a sovereign decision of the LAS, Brussels cannot agree to it.
"It's a sovereign decision, and we respect it," Borrell said, adding it was taken despite Damascus' alleged "lack of meaningful efforts to resolve the conflict."
He also noted that the Syrian leadership "has not been held accountable" and that the EU could not ignore this.
"That is why the EU and the LAS postponed the ministerial meeting at the request of the European Union," he concluded.
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Egypt strongly criticized the European Union's (EU) recent move to cancel the upcoming ministerial meeting with the Arab League due to Syria's readmission to the pan-Arab body, describing it as regrettable.
ReplyDeleteDuring a press briefing in Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, alongside EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, called on the EU to respect the Arab League's decision.
"The League's decision had to be appreciated by the European Union, but canceling its meeting with the Arab League, which had not been held for four years, was a regrettable decision," Shoukry said. His remarks followed Borrell's joint press conference with Secretary General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit, where they announced the postponement of the EU-Arab League ministerial meeting due to Syria's return to the pan-Arab body.