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Chemical weapons attributable to Assad. A certain European consensus (update)

Minister Olekas on his arrival at the Council of Ministers (credit: Thierry Monasse)
Minister Olekas on his arrival at the Council of Ministers (credit: Thierry Monasse)

(BRUSSELS2 to Vilnius) The chemical weapons used in Syria in the suburbs of Damascus are indeed the work of Bashar's regime. The information comes neither from the French, nor from the Americans, nor from the British – the three countries having already communicated widely on this subject. But from several countries. During the dinner held last night in the prestigious Palace of the Dukes of Lithuania, the ministers had “exchanges of information on Syria. Discussions will continue." thus specified the Lithuanian Defense Minister, Juozas Olekas, who co-chaired the meeting (with C. Ashton).

A certain consensus in the European analysis

“There are many signs that (the use of) chemical weapons have been used by the regime” (...) All Member States condemn the use of these weapons “, he specified during his press conference held a few minutes ago (10:50 Lithuanian time). For his part, a German official affirmed, in "off" to several colleagues, that they had proof of the regime's involvement in the chemical attacks of August 21. He also insisted that the process of submission of the report and deliberation at the UN be accelerated.

Still reservations, but mezzo vocce

The ministers who have reservations about this analysis or are more cautious remained rather discreet during dinner. According to our information, only 2 or 3 ministers – the Italian, the Slovenian in particular – took this position. The Slovenian Minister of Defence, Roman Jakic, - whom I questioned - is notably less affirmative. " The use of weapons is unacceptable regardless of origin. (...) It is possible that these weapons were used by Bashar ". But there is no proof. And it is not the report of the UN inspectors which will bring an element on this question " We are awaiting the report of the UN inspectors. But as you know, they don't have the mandate to determine the origin. "If this use of weapons calls for" a strong international response”, in any case, he believes that " the conflict will not be resolved militarily, we must act politically”.

No condemnation of keystrokes

Even if several European states support a political solution and refuse a military solution or do not want to support an action of military strikes as France and the United States want, none, however, ventured to condemn a possible military action by the allies. " Nobody condemns the hypothesis of military strikes said the Czech Defense Minister, Vladimir Picek, to my colleagues from Czech TV, summarizing an overall opinion.

Comment: We are thus in a political situation different from what happened for Iraq in 2003 or more recently for Libya in 2011.

(Update 18 p.m. with some details on the positions)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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