Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002163/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Rima Hassan (The Left), Manon Aubry (The Left), Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Carola Rackete (The Left), Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew), Ana Miranda Paz (Verts/ALE), Leila Chaibi (The Left), Marc Botenga (The Left), Irene Montero (The Left), Rudi Kennes (The Left), Özlem Demirel (The Left), Thijs Reuten (S&D), Arash Saeidi (The Left), Damien Carême (The Left), Marina Mesure (The Left), Cecilia Strada (S&D), Hanna Gedin (The Left), Li Andersson (The Left), Maria Walsh (PPE), Diana Riba i Giner (Verts/ALE), Lucia Yar (Renew), Sirpa Pietikäinen (PPE)
On 6 February 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). The broad and ambiguous scope of these sanctions seriously undermines the ICC’s ability to deliver on its mandate to end impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. Asset freezes and targeted sanctions against ICC staff have a chilling effect on companies and civil society organisations that might otherwise engage with the ICC.
At a time when victims of international law violations are growing in number – in Ukraine, Palestine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan – these sanctions obstruct access to justice for all those affected by crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Yet the EU has a legal instrument to counter such extraterritorial measures: the EU Blocking Statute, designed to neutralise the effects of sanctions imposed by non-EU countries.
In its 2024 annual report on human rights and democracy in the world[1], Parliament called on the Commission to ‘urgently activate the Blocking Statute’.
- 1.What concrete steps has the Commission taken to respond to this request?
- 2.Has the Commission assessed the impact of these sanctions on the Member States and on European actors cooperating with the ICC?
Submitted: 28.5.2025
- [1] Texts adopted, P10_TA(2025)0059.