High-level ENP Chair Talk with Dr Anis NACROUR: "The War in Syria – Domestic, Regional and International Developments"

As the civil war in Syria is about to enter into its sixth year, the United Nations states that more than seven million Syrians have been internally displaced, whereas around 4 million have sought refuge abroad, escaping mainly to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, or trying to reach Europe. The international community’s failure to end this conflict, in conjunction with the recently changing dynamics on the battlefield, do not offer much reason to be hopeful that the conflict and thus the exodus of Syrians will end soon.

This high-level talk, organized by the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair on the occasion of the Natolin Neighbourhood Days 2016, provided participants with a unique opportunity to discuss the current situation in Syria and its regional and international ramifications with Dr Anis NACROUR, Acting Head of Delegation of the EU to Syria. The meeting was destined to inform the audience about the complexities of the current situation on the ground and offer a critical update about ongoing international efforts to resolve the conflict. This entailed some reflections on the Geneva peace talks which took place in the last days of January 2016.

Dr Anis NACROUR is a French diplomat and currently Acting Head of Delegation of the EU to Syria. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and has held senior diplomatic posts in Algeria, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Israel, Qatar, the US and Yemen.

He has been seconded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs and worked as political and security adviser to Mr Tony BLAIR on the Middle East Peace Process (2007-10) as well as in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Service (1996-97).