The Constitutional Committee Meets for the Third Time

In Focus |The Constitutional Committee Meets for the Third Time

The third round of discussions of the Syrian Constitutional Committee took place on August 24 after a 9-months interruption due to the participating delegations failure to reach an agreement on the agenda of the small group.

However, on March 30, 2020, the Syrian regime and the opposition’s delegations reached an agreement on the agenda including the constitutional mandate, the benchmarks, and the basic elements of the internal regulations and the national foundations and principles.

A major breakthrough is not expected in the third round, as there is no reason to believe that the Syrian regime might make major concessions, in terms of:

• The mandate: Most probably, the Syrian regime delegation will not agree to on drafting a new constitution for the country, but will hold onto its position in calling for amendments to the 2012 constitution. Through the 2012 constitution, the regime will secure a definition of the political process as a mere government of national unity.

• National foundations and principles: It is assumed the Syrian regime delegation will submit its former proposal, entitle, “the National Foundations of the Syrian People” again. Moreover, the regime might not make any concessions in terms of lifting of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria by Western countries; in a reference to economic sanctions.

Therefore, it can be said that the international atmosphere is still not ready to reach a political solution in Syria and hence the Committee will not reach actual results, but at the same time, international actors want to continue the process in its current form.

Consequently, the Committee’s political process will be long just like the Astana and Geneva and it will not reach concrete results in the short term.

Unit of Analysis and Thinking - Jusoor for Studies

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