BRUSSELS – European Union governments reached a preliminary agreement yesterday to ban European companies from making new investments in Syrian oil exploration, production and refining industries, said diplomats.
Pending final approval, the latest round of Europe’s economic sanctions against the government of President Bashar al-Assad could go into effect next week, they said.
“The goal is to strike the regime’s access to funds in the long term,” one EU diplomat said.
European governments pushed strongly in recent weeks to step up economic pressure on President Assad in the hope of ending six months of violence against anti-government demonstrators. New sanctions would ban European companies from creating new joint ventures with enterprises in Syria’s energy sector, giving them loans as well as buying and extending stakes in Syrian companies, diplomats said. They will complement a ban on importing Syrian crude that’s already in place and asset freezes targeting several Syrian companies and entities. – (Reuters)