Austria: EU fails to agree on Syria arms embargo

European Union nations failed to paper over divisions and reach a deal Monday on whether to lift an embargo to enable arming Syrian rebels, Austria's foreign minister said. "It was not possible to find a compromise with France and Britain," said Michael Spindelegger after nine hours of talks with his 26 counterparts. Officials and diplomats said negotiations were nevertheless continuing, with Germany and the Netherlands notably seeking to find a consensus. "The work will continue despite Spindelegger's declaration," said a German official. "There is still the chance for a political consensus." EU nations have been locked in a long-running row over arming Syria's rebels after an embargo expires at the end of this week. Britain and France argue that supplying weapons to opposition fighters could help tip the military balance and pressure President Bashar al-Assad to seek a political solution to the deadly conflict now in its third year. "It's important to show that we are prepared to amend our arms embargo so that the Assad regime gets a clear signal that it has to negotiate seriously," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. But Austria, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic are reticent about pouring more arms into a conflict that has already cost some 94,000 lives. Failing unanimous agreement, a wide-ranging package of EU sanctions imposed over two years against the Assad regime, including a blanket arms embargo on Syria, risks lapsing on May 31 at midnight. "It's disappointing that we did not find a common position which means that the sanctions regime will end June 1," Spindelegger added. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris favoured a compromise option enabling EU nations to arm Syria's main opposition National Coalition, but only under strict conditions and under a timeframe linked to political negotiations. If agreed by all EU nations, this would "encourage European consensus, enable resistance fighters to obtain the arms they need, and allow control of those arms," he added. In Istanbul, Syria's opposition Coalition urged EU foreign ministers to lift the embargo. "It's the moment of truth that we've been waiting for for months," said spokesman Khaled al-Saleh. Fabius met later Monday in Paris with his Russian and US counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry, over efforts to convene a Syria peace conference next month in Geneva. The compromise deal discussed by ministers that had appeared to win broad favour was to link the lifting of the embargo for the rebels to results from the Geneva conference. According to a document obtained by AFP, EU nations would have renewed for a year sanctions against the Assad regime -- including asset freezes against his family and cronies -- while agreeing in principle to provide weapons to the National Coalition. But the actual delivery of arms would have been postponed until a fresh political decision by all EU members by August 1 "in light of the developments related to the US-Russia initiative." And the supply of weapons would have been subject to strict safeguards and conditions, notably regarding the end-users, with possibly a list of authorised material. "Quite a lot of arms are already going to the wrong hands," said Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans. "The parties to the conflict don't have a shortage of arms, frankly." EU diplomats said that Britain however had refused to agree to put the decision to the EU a second time by August 1. It wanted the deal to be implemented automatically after a set period.