MOSCOW TIMES-
The ongoing debate over Syria stole the summit’s agenda before it
even began, with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy saying
beforehand at St. Petersburg’s Peterhof Palace that the EU would only
support a political solution to the conflict, which has now claimed more
than 100,000 lives.
Van Rompuy was careful to avoid giving any concrete prescriptions about the Syria crisis, however.
“Any action has to involve a long-term view, and everybody has to
realize that there is no quick solution to the Syria crisis,” Van Rompuy
said.
At the same time, he was firm in saying that “there is no military
solution to the Syria conflict, only a political solution can end the
terrible bloodshed.”
He went on to call the chemical attack — which the U.S. says was
carried out by government forces and killed 1,429 people — “an atrocious
act” and a “cynical use of weapons of mass destruction that can’t be
tolerated.”
The international community must work together to prevent such
incidents in the future, he said, both in Syria and in other countries.
In this regard, he said, the EU respected the recent call for
intervention but believed the decision should be left up to the United
Nations.
He also said various sources confirmed that the chemical attack had
taken place and that it was carried out by the Syrian regime because
“that’s the only one who could posses chemical weapons in Syria.” But he
added that he hoped UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon would present the
results of the UN chemical weapons team in the near future.
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