EU aims to convene Syria conference in April

Foreign ministers of EU member states met on Monday to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process and the war in Syria, mulling a conference in April to find a political solution for the country.

The meeting comes one day after diplomats from nearly 70 countries met in Paris and issued a call to Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations, and a week before Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini updated foreign ministers on the EU’s regional initiatives, including bilateral meetings with several countries in the Arab region, to discuss a way forward in the UN-led negotiations towards a political solution in Syria.

She said the EU was aiming to convene a conference in Brussels in April that could be the start of the political transition in Syria.

"We are liaising strictly with the UN to be in sync - but that could be in April," Mogherini said.

The EU conference would be an opportunity to take stock of fulfilled pledges for assisting the humanitarian situation in Syria.

The EU’s discussions came as Turkey and Russia appear to have assumed a leading role in finding a political solution to the conflict.

"We need to talk about the role that Europe will play in the forthcoming process and urge that the negotiations on the future of Syria be returned to the hands of the United Nations," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters before the EU meeting.