(PARIS) - The European Union welcomed Sunday the resumption of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon as an important step that will help improve stability.

"It's very positive, it's a step that is going to help stabilise the situation, not only in Lebanon but throughout the region," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's spokeswoman said.

"It is very important," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters in Paris, ahead of a Mediterranean union summit.

"We have finally a president in Lebanon, and we have seen the formation of a government, and now one of the steps that was indeed not yet there was the question of having bilateral diplomatic relations," she said.

Their remarks came after Lebanon and Syria said Saturday that they had agreed to establish diplomatic relations, opening embassies in each other's capitals for the first time since their independence from colonial rule.

Ferrero-Waldner underlined that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "has been more constructive" recently, with Damascus more helpful not only in Lebanon but also holding meetings with Israel.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt: "We have good development with Lebanon ... which I think was highly significant with a Syrian embassy being set up there now."

Syria is the only country taking part in the current Euro-Mediterranean partnership -- set to be reborn Sunday as the Union for the Mediterranean -- that has not signed any agreement with the EU.

Work on an "association agreement" had been completed, but its signature was frozen after the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri in 2005.

Syria's return to the international fold could lead to the accord's signature by the end of the year, an EU official said, on condition of anonymity.

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