A Fading Presence in the Middle East? The European Union’s Engagement in Syria

• Authors: Osiewicz Przemysław
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

It is generally believed that the post-9/11 developments, especially the war on terrorism, military intervention in Iraq as well as the process of political changes in the Arab world after 2011, changed the situation in the Middle East to Europe’s disadvantage. The same claim applies to the European Union. This article carries out a detailed analysis of the European Union’s engagement in Syria after 2011, namely during the still ongoing conflict. The main research question is whether the European Union could play a more constructive and influential role as a peace broker in Syria. In order to answer this question one has to analyze actions undertaken by the European Union especially within the framework of European Council’s Strategy on Syria of 2017. The author concludes that although it is quite easy to criticize the EU for its lack of efficiency in the Syrian conflict, one has to underscore the importance of previous diplomatic efforts, the scale of humanitarian aid and other soft actions undertaken both in Syria as well as in the case of Syrian refugees. Yet in this case the main problem is related to some internal divisions and lack of solidarity among EU members. Undoubtedly, the EU’s voice could be better heard both in Syria and in the Middle East if some Central European governments including Poland changed their current attitude to the conflict and the fate of Syrian refugees.

Keywords

EN

the European Union; the Middle East, Syria; conflict resolution; crisis management

• Publisher: Instytut Zachodni. Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy im. Zygmunta Wojciechowskiego w Poznaniu
• Journal: Przegląd Zachodni
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 4(365)
• Pages: 133-144

Contributors

author

Osiewicz Przemysław

• Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań