12-05-04 Top EU officials will travel to Syria to boost future cooperation on oil and gas exports to Europe in the face of Washington's increasingly hard-line approach to Damascus. EU Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio will head to Damascus to discuss connecting Syria to Europe's energy market and developing the region's oil, gas, electricity and transport sectors.
"The meetings will concern Syria's integration in the regional petroleum market and its future transit role towards the EU for Egyptian, Iraqi and Middle Eastern oil and gas resources," said a statement from the EU Executive.

News of the visit comes just days after US President George W. Bush tightened sanctions against Damascus, highlighting a growing Trans-Atlantic policy divide towards the country. Washington banned all US exports to Syria other than food and medicine over accusations that the regime was harbouring terrorists and pursuing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
By contrast, the EU has insisted on maintaining a policy of constructive engagement with Syria and is seeking to bring it fully into an existing trade block with Mediterranean rim nations in exchange for efforts to combat terrorism and speed up democratic reform. But despite taking a more positive approach to Damascus, the EU has stalled the final signing off of an association agreement with Syria as The Netherlands, UK and Germany want stronger commitments denouncing nuclear weapons programmes.

The EU decided in November that all new trade agreements with non-EU countries would contain an anti-WMD clause but Syria has so far refused to agree to these terms. A British official argued it would be "ludicrous" to water down the clause at the first opportunity, but Syria has protested that the EU has not made the same demands on its arch-enemy Israel.
Diplomats are currently working on wording to break the stalemate, and EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the issue when they meet in Brussels. The resolution of the impasse would allow Syria to become a fully-fledged member of the EU's “Barcelona” process, an alliance forging closer trade and political ties with countries in the Mediterranean block.

Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey are all currently members of the Mediterranean block.