European Union foreign ministers have agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria, but insist that the measures should be reimposed if they see any abuses by the country’s new rulers.

European Union foreign ministers have agreed on a roadmap to ease sanctions on Syria, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday.

A six-phase “road map” prepared by the EU’s foreign service advocates a “staged approach” to lifting sanctions on the country “to incentivise peaceful transition and reconstruction”. An arms embargo, sanctions on equipment used for internal repression and measures targeting Assad regime officials would be exempt, the document states.

Some European Union sanctions against Syria are being lifted, France's foreign minister said on Monday, as part of a broader EU move to help stabilise Damascus after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

European Union top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Monday that she hopes EU foreign ministers will be able to agree on gradually suspending the bloc's economic sanctions on Syria. Ministers are to decide on a "roadmap" for a step-by-step approach,

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday are expected to ease some energy, transport and finance sanctions against Syria, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said. “Today,