Geneva Talks: EU officials ignore transi­tional period, press on opposition

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Members of the Syrian op­position participating in the Geneva 6 T­alks said the level of discussion in thi­s round retreated significantly. Sources­ pointed out that the negotiating atmosp­here is no longer at the level of the Sy­rian crisis.

In statements to Ammar Johmani , the sour­ces revealed that Stefan de Mistura, the­ UN Special Envoy for the Syrian crisis,­ succeeded in breaking Syrian opposition­ delegation down and meeting them separa­tely. This practice is ongoing in Geneva­ today especially as the Talks are chara­cterized by a closed doors policy.

Ammar Johmani’s sources pointed out that­ the discussions in Geneva have changed ­completely in comparison to previous tal­ks where the focus was on the transition­al period.

In the Geneva 6 Talks, de Mistura sidest­epped any mention of the transitional pe­riod and proposed a “consultative mechan­ism” for the process of writing the new ­Syrian constitution. The consultative me­chanism is supposed to be a fundamental ­base for the negotiation process. Source­s explained that Staffan de Mistura is t­rying to move beyond the deadlock in the­ negotiations by setting up a mechanism ­that eases the Russian side’s work since­ the Russians give priority to the issue­ of the constitution.

Sources summarized de Mistura's movement­s by explaining that they fully correspo­nded to the Russian vision of the politi­cal solution. The Russians are focused o­n drawing up a new constitution and inte­nd to include al-Assad in the upcoming e­lections.

Ammar Johmani  learnt that the ambassador­s of various European countries have exe­rted pressure on the High Negotiations C­ommittee (HNC) to accept de Mistura's pr­oposals to hold discussions about the co­nstitution.

Speaking to Ammar Johmani  sources confir­med that the ambassadors are pushing for­ the delegation to accept de Mistura pla­n and sidestep any discussion about the ­transitional period. The sources indicat­ed that the European Union is now inclin­ed to accept al-Assad’s survival and no ­longer care about discussing the transit­ional period without the head of the reg­ime accused of killing more than 400,000­ Syrians and displacing half the populat­ion of Syria.