The European Union will wait until next month before deciding whether to extend sanctions against Myanmar, a special envoy said on Tuesday,although another EU official saw little prospect of them being lifted. There has been an emerging debate in the international community over policies towards Myanmar after Washington said it was reviewing its policy and conceded that sanctions had not influenced the junta on human rights and democracy. The EU's special envoy to Myanmar , Piero Fassino, said there had been no decision yet on new sanctions, which expire at the end of April. "Our attitude about this is in relation with the evolution of the situation. If there will be some positive new steps, we takenote," said Fassino, who is on a trip to the region before reporting back to Brussels . "The European Council many times declared we are ready to change the sanctions if there are some positive steps in (the) direction to obtain our goals," he said, without elaborating. But another EU official was pessimistic there could be progress within a month to justify lifting sanctions. "The chances that (the junta) will move in the next month, there is only one month's time, I don't think they're very big," the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified. The sanctions apply to a long list of Myanmar officials and firms associated with its military rulers.
