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Ashton says EU united on political solution for Syria

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton
(With photo) BRUSSELS, June 24 (KUNA) -- EU High Representative Catherine Ashton Monday reiterated that the Syrian crisis should be resolved through a political process and that efforts are being made to hold the Geneva II conference.
"First of all I wanted to reiterate how united we remain in our belief that the crisis in Syria needs a political process and needs to be solved through negotiations," she told a press conference after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg this evening.
"That is why huge efforts have been made to help, support and facilitate the planned 'Geneva II' peace conference," she noted.
The ministers also discussed the Middle East Peace Process. "We fully support the current efforts of the United States in support of the resumption of negotiations and we welcome very much their involvement and the engagement of (US) Secretary of State John Kerry," she added.
On his part Michael Spindelegger , Austrian Minister for European and International Affairs, told reporters after the meeting that "We have not discussed Syria in detail." "I believe that we should not allow under any means (of) arms delivery to Syria. I am in principle against arms delivery to Syria no matter to which side, this would only lead to an escalation and not to peace," he added. (end) nk.bs KUNA 242215 Jun 13NNNN