ABSTRACT
The article explores the ways in which the European Union interacted with Syria before and after the beginning of the civil war. The EU attempted to build friendly relations with Syria through what can be called constructive engagement from the early 2000s, but this ended abruptly once Bashar al-Asad responded with repression to the protests in the streets in 2011. While the EU initially presented a united front against Asad and quickly put in place severe sanctions against the regime, the development of the Syrian civil war exposed the rifts and different interests of the EU members. This led to a situation where it was impossible for the EU to act as an autonomous foreign policy actor, confirming once more that national interests prevail within the EU to the detriment of a genuinely common foreign and security policy.
