EU decision to block statute is under discussion amid mounting pressure
(MENAFN) The European Union is under pressure to decide whether to invoke its “blocking statute” to protect International Criminal Court (ICC) officials from US sanctions, a move that could test its commitment to international justice.
Last month, the US sanctioned four ICC officials, including Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, who authorized arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Deputy Prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang were also targeted for supporting the warrants against Israeli leaders.
The EU has the option to use its blocking statute, which forbids EU companies from complying with foreign sanctions imposed outside the US’s jurisdiction. However, Brussels has so far chosen not to act.
“It is shocking that the EU has not yet included these unlawful US sanctions in its blocking statute,” said Luigi Daniele, associate professor of international law at Italy’s University of Molise. He described the US sanctions as designed to intimidate senior international justice officials and criticized the EU’s hesitation as indefensible.
Daniele added that major EU economic powers appear to be protecting the effects of the US sanctions, calling the EU’s inaction “unacceptable from legal, political, and moral perspectives.”
Previously, in February, the Trump administration also sanctioned the ICC and Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, accusing the court of targeting the US and its ally Israel without justification.
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