EU has no plans to recall ambassador to Syria

The European Union does not intend to follow in the footsteps of some of its member states, which have recalled their ambassadors to Syria in response to the ongoing government-sponsored violence there, an official said Tuesday dpa reported

Since a critical UN Security Council resolution was vetoed on the weekend by China and Russia, the United States have closed their embassy, and EU members Britain, France and Italy have called back their diplomatic envoys for consultations.

While individual member states were free to take action, the EU's diplomatic service had "no plan at all" to do the same with its own ambassador in Damascus, said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

Mann said it was "important to have people on the ground," especially since there was no free press in Syria, and repeated the EU's condemnation for the repression orchestrated by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

EU governments are preparing a new round of sanctions against Syria, ahead of the next meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on January 27.