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Fillon: West’s Syria Policy Has Failed

Fillon: West’s Syria Policy Has Failed
folder_openFrance access_time7 years ago
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Local Editor

The former French prime minister and the Republican party's presidential candidate criticized the Western policy towards Syria's nearly six-year-old conflict, stating that Europe's stance vis-à-vis the deadly crisis has shown "indignation."

Fillon: West’s Syria Policy Has Failed

Speaking to reporters following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of European center-right parties in Brussels on Thursday, Francois Fillon stated that Europe has to engage in negotiations with parties involved in the Syrian conflict to save lives.

"I told European leaders that what we are forced to concede today is that Western diplomacy and in particular European diplomacy has failed," he said, rejecting the option of a US military onslaught against Syria.

Fillon, who has previously called for restoring ties with the Syrian government, added, "The other option is a strong European diplomatic initiative to bring around the table all those who can stop this conflict," which started in March 2011.

Commenting on the European strategy with regard to Russia, which has been conducting an air campaign against militants in Syria for over a year, the French presidential hopeful said, "I simply have a lot of respect for Russia. I've always said whether Russia's leader is called Vladimir, Boris or Igor, he is the leader of the biggest country in the world. Europe must have a long-term strategy with Russia and not just act emotionally."

Fillon's comments came as Russia criticized the West for its failure to contain extremist militants it supports in Syria and "indefinite" procrastination when it comes to peace talks for the war-ravaged Arab country.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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