Statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Christos Stylianides on World Humanitarian Day 2016 // Brussels, 19 August 2016

– having regard to the recent statements by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR), Federica Mogherini, on Libya,

E. whereas UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, AU Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and EU High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini pledged in a joint statement on 12 November 2015 to work closely together and to mobilise all means and instruments to prevent a further deterioration of the situation in Burundi, and agreed on the urgent need to convene a meeting of Burundian government and opposition representatives in Addis Ababa, or in Kampala chaired by Uganda’s President Museveni;

10. Welcomes, in this connection, the organisation of the new Commission in clusters, since this enables the HR/VP to coordinate all relevant Commission policies with an external dimension; supports the HR/VP in her efforts to fully assume her role as Vice-President of the Commission; encourages the HR/VP at the same time to use her role as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Council to bring initiatives into the Council that advance common proactive policies beyond the lowest common denominator, using the whole toolbox of the CFSP and the ...[+++] EU’s external policies;

5. Strongly supports the efforts of the League of Arab States to end the violence, to promote a political solution in Syria and to provide all forms of political and material support to the Syrian opposition; welcomes the Arab League’s call of the 12th of February 2012 on the UNSC to send a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping mission to Syria in order to replace the Arab League monitoring mission; urges the HR/VP and EU Member States to do their utmost to pave the way for the Russian Federation's support of the Arab League's peacekeeping initiative; firmly encourages the HR/VP, the Council and EU Member States to continue cooperating closely with Turkey and neighbouring countries of Syria, the Arab League and other international actors and to eng ...[+++]age in the launching of a contact group in order to find a common position for the solution of the crisis, to help the opposition forces in their struggle by providing them material and technical support, including satellite images and communication tools, while stepping up the pressure on the Syrian regime in order to stop the military escalation on its own people; strongly supports the proposal by Tunisia to host the meeting of ‘Friends of Syria’ contact group on 24 February 2012, a plan initiated by France and the United States after Russia and China blocked the UNSC resolution; calls in this spirit for the immediate setting-up of an EU Special Envoy on Syria;

22. Calls on the VP/HR, in her capacity as chair of the Foreign Affairs Council, to seek common EU positions on issues to be decided in the UNSC in order to have such positions implemented through joint voting practice; encourages the VP/HR, the EEAS and the EU Member States to play a more active role in establishing cooperation mechanisms aimed at ensuring that EU Member States that sit on the UNSC defend common EU positions therein;