For eight European countries, the time seems ripe to change their strategy toward Syria.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Italy and Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia and Slovakia said they are willing to thaw ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In a joint letter, they suggested creating the position of an EU-Syria envoy who would be tasked with reinstalling a Syrian ambassador to Brussels and designating 10 so-called "safe zones" within Syria's government-held regions to which Syrian migrants in Europe could be returned.

Although Germany was not among the signatories, one of the country's top administrative courts ruled this week that there "is no longer a general danger to all civilians from the long-running conflict in Syria."

Yet human rights observers, analysts and the UN top envoy for Syria have all pointed out that Syria is neither safe for the population, nor for returning refugees.

"Syria remains in a state of profound conflict, complexity and division," UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Councilthis week. "It is riddled with armed actors, listed terrorist groups, foreign armies and front lines […] and civilians are still victims of violence and subject to extensive human rights abuses, a protracted state of displacement and dire humanitarian conditions."

And yet, the European willingness to reengage with Syria — after severing official relations with Damascus as a consequence of Syria's government's brutal crackdown on........

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