French, Britain push EU nations to lift Syria arms embargo

European Union (EU) leaders started the second day of their spring summit on Friday as French and Britian urged their EU partners to lift an arms embargo on Syria to allow supplying for the the country's opposition. French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France and Britain had agreed on the issue but other countries would have to be convinced. "We will use our diplomacy and explain how terrible the situation is in Syria in order to lead our European partners to that solution... Our goal is to convince our partners at the end of May, and if possible before," Hollande said after the first day of the summit. "If by chance there is a blockage by one or two countries, then France will take its responsibilities," he said. The EU has imposed an arms embargo on Syria since May, 2011, which was extended on February 28 for another three months to June 1 by EU foreign ministers. Paris and London are expected to be pushing for quick new EU talks on the embargo. However, Germany and other EU countries are concerned that more weapons will only fuel conflicts in Syria. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the bloc needed to "proceed very cautiously" on the issue and his country was ready to discuss within the EU. "If our partners in the European Union, in this case Britain and France, have a changed assessment of the situation, then the foreign ministers are of course ready to discuss this subject again," she said.