The European Union and the Crisis in Syria[Evropská unie a krize v Sýrii]

This article discusses the role of the European Union (EU) in the crisis in Syria. Syria as a part of the Middle East has been historically an important space for Europe and the situation in Syria is very important for the stability in Europe. Despite the fact that the EU disposes of a variety of diplomatic, political, economic, security and humanitarian tools to intervene in the crisis in Syria, the EU has so far not been able to effectively contribute to the resolution of the crisis in Syria. This is partly because the opposition in Syria is deeply fractionalized and the EU is afraid of the rise of Islamism and the Islamic State in Syria after the regime change. Other reasons for the failure of the EU to react successfully to the crisis in Syria included lack of consensus within the EU states, disagreement with the United States about the approach to the crisis in Syria and other priorities of the EU since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria, such as the crisis in Ukraine or negotiations about nuclear program in Iran.