France: ‘No reason to normalise ties with Assad regime’

The French Foreign Ministry has stated there is no reason to normalise ties with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, news agencies reported on Friday.

“There is no reason to go ahead in the normalisation of ties with the Syrian regime, which has been cracking down on its people, preventing the return of refugees and causing instability in the region through smuggling drugs,” asserted Ambassador Patrice Paoli, who is in charge of Arabic communication at the French Foreign Ministry.

Paoli stressed that his country considers that regaining stability in Syria cannot be achieved without a political solution meeting Syrians’ hopes and ambitions.

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Paoli added that France continues its diplomatic efforts to solve the Syrian crisis and supports the mission of the United Nations (UN) special envoy to Syria Geir O. Pedersen.

This came hours after the UK, the US, France and Germany issued a joint statement expressing their opposition to normalising ties with the Syrian regime.

“We are not normalising relations with the Assad regime, nor are we funding the reconstruction of the damage inflicted by the regime during the conflict or lifting sanctions,” the statement read.

“For the benefit of the Syrian people, we will not normalise until there is authentic and enduring progress towards a political solution,” the statement added.

The four Western countries called for a: “UN-facilitated, Syrian-led political process in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2,254 [issued in 2015].”

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