The EU disagrees with the Trump administration over Assad's role in Syria

The EU has reasserted that Bashar al-Assad has no future in Syria, just days after the Trump administration said his departure was no longer a priority for settling the conflict.

Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said after six and a half years of war it was completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria would be exactly the same as its past.

The EU wanted “a meaningful and inclusive transition in Syria” open to Syrians from all backgrounds, she said. “It is for the Syrians to decide, but for all Syrians.”

The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, was more specific: “France does not believe for an instant that this new Syria can be led by Assad.”

The EU has reasserted that Bashar al-Assad has no future in Syria, just days after the Trump administration said his departure was no longer a priority for settling the conflict.

Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said after six and a half years of war it was completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria would be exactly the same as its past. The EU wanted “a meaningful and inclusive transition in Syria” open to Syrians from all backgrounds, she said. “It is for the Syrians to decide, but for all Syrians.”

The French foreign minister, , was more specific: “France does not believe for an instant that this new Syria can be led by Assad.”

Inside Syria, 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. An additional 5 million are refugees in neighbouring countries, while a further 1.2 million have fled to Europe.

In a letter to the Guardian, more than 80 parliamentarians have warned the EU against jumpstarting a large-scale reconstruction programme without a consensus-based political settlement. Such an approach “could become an implicit endorsement of Assad’s control over Syria and hence a betrayal to the aspirations of large parts of Syria’s civil society” the cross-party group of parliamentarians write.

“The EU should now leverage its role as the largest financial donor, to demand a say in any negotiations on the political transition and the future of Syria.”

The letter echoes warnings from Syrian NGOs, who fear that premature reconstruction could lend unwitting support to Assad.

“The EU has leverage, there should be a clear and just criteria for funding projects,” said Fadi Hallisso, co-founder of a relief and development group based in Lebanon. The EU “card of reconstruction and funding can be played once and then you lose it”, he said, calling on foreign actors to back a government that would guarantee justice for all Syrians.

Hallisso was speaking at the launch of a Syrian civil society advocacy alliance, We Exist, which seeks to strengthen the voice of NGOs in talks on the country’s future. He said he feared that a push for reconstruction would obscure the plight of Syrian refugees, many of whom are stuck in limbo without education or work. “Improvement on these files is much more important than reconstruction and much more urgent.”

Oussama Jarrousse, who co-founded Citizens for Syria, said talk about reconstruction was a big distraction. “We still have active conflict, we still have clashes every day, we still have airplanes bombing, we have a very fluid situation with Isis controlling part of Syria. There is a huge humanitarian crisis and the economy has been shattered.”

But while reconstruction was “a big distraction” he said efforts were needed to maintain institutions so Syria did not go further down the road of becoming a failed state.