The European Union is to push Monday for a revival of ties with Syria as it looks to bolster the war-ravaged country -- with an eye on prospects for Syrian migrants in Europe to one day return home.
The bloc's foreign ministers will meet in Brussels with Syrian top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani to kick off a high-level "political dialogue" 18 months after the ouster of strongman Bashar al-Assad.
An EU official said the aim was to back reconstruction of the country devastated by more than a decade of civil war that sent millions fleeing abroad, and where "the reality on the ground is still appalling".
Some 13 million Syrians -- nearly half the population -- depend on food assistance, the official said. Needs are enormous, and the EU has already pledged 620 million euros ($730 million) in aid for the 2026-2027 period.
But Syria's stability also interests many EU countries because its nationals have made up the lion's share of asylum-seekers in the bloc over a decade -- and there is a push for large numbers to eventually go back home.
"We need the Syrian transitional government to succeed in bringing stability to the country, because that's in our interest," said one EU diplomat.
- Several deals in cards -
The 27-nation bloc launched a new chapter with Syria after Assad was swept from power in December 2024.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen promised after meeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus in January that Europe would "do everything it can" to support Syria's recovery.
Last month, the commission proposed that EU states fully reactivate the bloc's cooperation agreement with Syria -- a step expected to be approved Monday.
The deal -- abolishing duties on imports of most industrial products from Syria -- was partially suspended in 2011 when Assad ruthlessly cracked down on protests at the start of the civil war.
Before, Syria-EU trade had peaked at more than seven billion euros ($9.1 billion at the 2010 exchange rate) in 2010. By 2023, EU imports from the country had dwindled to 103 million euros, while European exports to Syria stood at 265 million euros.
Looking ahead, the EU wants a more ambitious association agreement, similar to those struck with other countries in the region such as Egypt, Israel and Lebanon -- though officials say that goal remains a way off.
In the meantime, the EU wants to facilitate access to financing for Syrians -- crucial to revive the economy -- and to support farmers, for example with irrigation pumps.
It is also on track to sign a deal to rehabilitate a major hospital in the western Homs region.
- Voluntary returns -
On the sensitive matter of Syrian migrant returns, Germany -- home to the EU's largest Syrian diaspora at more than a million -- is on the front line.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has embraced tougher migration policies as he seeks to counter the far right -- and he triggered a backlash by declaring during a visit by Syria's president last month that he hoped 80 percent of Syrian refugees would return home within three years.
He later clarified this was a figure put forward by Sharaa himself.
Danish authorities have been outspoken in pushing for Syrians to go home.
But at the EU level there is no question of forcing Syrians to leave, a European official said.
There is a consensus that the conditions are not ready for large-scale voluntary returns, said Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East and North Africa director at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"Most Europeans are cognisant of the reality that for the moment conditions on the ground are not improving fast enough, particularly in the economic sphere, to persuade Syrians to pack up their lives in Europe and head home," he said.
An EU official said the focus was "working on stability, on Syria's economic recovery -- because that really is the path for people to be able to go home in sustainable conditions."
But the commission also wants to establish a "straight and regular dialogue" on returns with Damascus, the official added, saying the matter "will obviously feature" in Monday's talks.
