EU repeats call for political solution in Syria

The EU Monday declined to comment on the decision by US President Barack Obama to consult the House of Congress on a potential military strike against Syria saying it is an internal matter. "We don't have any comments to make on the vote in the British parliament and the decision to put it to the vote in the US," Michael Mann, spokesman for EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, told a news conference. "This is a question for EU member states and the US respectively. It is an internal issue," he noted. "It is very important for us to emphasize that our line is unchanged. What we need ultimately is a political solution to the crisis in Syria. We need to get the parties back to a political approach soon and we need to help Syria get out of the crisis," said Mann. He said that Ashton will be meeting EU foreign ministers in an informal gathering at Vilnius, at the end of this week. Lithuania holds the current EU Presidency. Meanwhile, another EU spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters that the Syrian crisis is not on the agenda of the G20 Summit taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 5 and 6 September. "But of course it is for the Russian Presidency of the G20 to make this decision," he added.