Alessia Pistilli
Syria as a Theater of Geopolitical Competition
The Limits of European Influence
AIES Comment 2026/8
21.09.2026 / Europäische Sicherheit und Verteidigung / EU-Nachbarschaft
Europe pays for Syria and does not shape it. The European Union has lifted its sanctions, restored the Cooperation Agreement and financed more of the country's survival than any other donor, yet it holds the fewest instruments for deciding what Syria becomes. The reasons predate the transition. Throughout the war the EU worked through humanitarian aid, sanctions and diplomacy while others worked through force, and divisions among the Member States left no single European position to defend. The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 reopened the contest instead of closing it. Washington traded sanctions relief and recognition for access, Moscow turned on its former ally and negotiated with the government it had once bombed, and both secured standing in Damascus that Brussels still lacks. Money buys Europe presence in Syria, not influence over its political and security order.