The European Commission has proposed the full resumption of the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement, a step that would reopen a long-suspended trade and cooperation framework but still requires formal Council adoption before it can take effect.
The European Commission on 20 April proposed the full resumption of the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement, marking a further step in the EU’s re-engagement with Syria after the lifting of most economic sanctions last year. The move does not in itself restore the agreement. Under the Commission’s own text, the proposal must still be formally adopted by the Council and then notified to the Syrian transitional authorities.
The agreement has been part of the framework governing EU-Syria relations since 1978, but it was partially suspended in 2011 in response to repression and grave human rights violations under the Assad regime. The Commission said the agreement supports Syria’s economic and social development and provides for fair and lawful trade relations, including the abolition of customs duties on most industrial products originating in Syria and a bar on quantitative restrictions on both sides.
The 20 April proposal sits within a broader EU policy shift that has been taking shape since the change in Syria’s political situation. In February 2025, the Council suspended a number of restrictive measures covering areas such as energy, transport and some financial transactions, arguing that this would support an inclusive political transition and economic recovery. In May 2025, the Council then adopted legal acts lifting all economic restrictive measures on Syria, with the exception of those based on security grounds.
The Commission now presents the proposed restoration of the cooperation agreement as the next institutional step in that process. In its announcement, it links the move directly to the new EU framework of cooperation with Syria outlined by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January 2026. At that stage, the Commission said renewed relations would rest on three pillars: a new political partnership, enhanced trade and economic cooperation, and a financial support package of around €620 million for 2026 and 2027 covering humanitarian aid, early recovery support and bilateral support.
That means the present proposal should be read less as an isolated trade measure than as part of a deliberate attempt to rebuild the legal and political architecture of EU-Syria relations. The Commission also states that the timing has a diplomatic purpose. It describes the move as an important political signal ahead of the EU-Syria High Level Political Dialogue scheduled for 11 May 2026.
What remains unclear is how quickly the procedure will move. The Commission’s note confirms only that the proposal now passes to the Council. It does not set out a timetable for adoption, nor does it indicate whether any conditions will be attached beyond the formal notification to the Syrian authorities. For that reason, the operative point today is that Brussels has proposed a full resumption, not that the agreement has already been restored in law.
There is also a distinction to maintain between economic reopening and the wider sanctions framework. Even after lifting economic restrictions in May 2025, the Council kept in place measures tied to security grounds and maintained listings linked to the Assad regime, chemical weapons and illicit drug trade. In other words, the EU has shifted its economic posture, but it has not dismantled every restrictive instrument connected to Syria.
For Brussels, the significance of the 20 April proposal lies in its legal and political symbolism. The cooperation agreement was one of the core institutional instruments suspended after the breakdown in relations in 2011. Moving to restore it in full signals that the EU now wants a more formal basis for engagement with Syria’s transitional authorities, trade relations and economic recovery. Whether that becomes operational in the near term will depend on the Council’s next steps.
