EU Studies Imposing Sanctions on Syrian President

A European diplomat told AFP that “One point is left outstanding, the listing of President Al Assad with around 15 Syrian officials facing an assets freeze and travel ban”.

Another European diplomat stated that EU envoys will meet in Brussels Friday to “secure a final agreement on measures against Damascus and to set a date for them to come into effect”.

The sanctions listed by the EU to be imposed on Al Assad include “an embargo on the sale of weapons and repressive tools, in addition to a review on any type of cooperation with Syria”.

This comes as the previous EU meeting failed to agree on imposing sanctions on the Syrian president as some states including Cyprus, Portugal and Greece preferred “dealing gradually” with the incidents to preserve the relation with the Syrian regime.

However, Britain, Germany, and France have strongly favored imposing sanctions on Al Assad.
 
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted as saying that "for Syria we are going to push for the adoption of the harshest possible sanctions."