EU countries have restored the full application of a long-standing cooperation agreement with Syria after ending a partial suspension first imposed in 2011.
The Council of the EU adopted a decision on Monday terminating the partial suspension of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Syrian Arab Republic, and repealing the 2011 decision that introduced the suspension, the Council announced.
The suspension had targeted specific trade-related parts of the agreement in response to serious human rights violations by the government of then-president Bashar al-Assad.
It covered provisions that removed quantitative restrictions — limits on the amount that can be imported — on certain Syrian products including oil, petroleum products, gold, precious metals and diamonds.
What changes now
The Council said the conditions that justified the suspension were no longer present following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 and subsequent EU decisions to lift economic sanctions on Syria in May 2025, except those maintained on security grounds.
The European Commission will notify Syrian authorities of the termination, the Council said.
The decision takes effect on the date it was adopted, and the reinstated provisions will apply from the first day of the first month after Syria is notified.
The cooperation agreement was concluded in 1977 and sets the framework for economic and trade relations between the two sides.
