BRUSSELS, December 17. /TASS/. The European Union is reopening its delegation in Damascus to ensure contacts with the new Syrian authorities, foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

"We will reopen the EU delegation in Syria to have constructive engagement and get input from the ground," she wrote on her X page, adding that the EU has already "started with a process to engage cautiously with the new leadership and the civil society."

"We can’t leave a vacuum in Syria. The EU must be present [there]," Kallas said, without specifying about what vacuum she meant.

On December 16, she said that the EU would work to ensure that Syria expels Russian bases and would step it "aid" to the country. The EU would hold a conference of international donors under the auspices of the European Commission in Brussels in early 2025 to collect this so-called aid for the country.