On Monday, the EU Council unanimously decided to add violations of sanctions to the list of EU crimes included in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
This was reported by the press service of the Council of the European Union, the Yevropeyska Pravda informed.
Currently, member states define differently what constitutes a violation of sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what penalties should be applied in case of violation.
As a consequence, the degree of sanctions enforcement and the risk of circumvention of restrictions, potentially allowing sanctioned individuals to continue to access their assets and support the regimes targeted by EU measures, may vary from one member state to another.
The inclusion of sanctions violations in the list of “EU crimes” is the first of two steps to ensure that sanctions are applied uniformly across the EU and that attempts to circumvent or violate sanctions are stopped.
Following this decision, the European Commission will propose a directive containing minimum rules on the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for violations of EU restrictive measures.
This draft directive will then have to be discussed and adopted by the EU Council and the European Parliament.
“The EU has responded with determination to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine. It has adopted an unprecedented number of sanctions to target Russia’s economy and thwart its ability to continue with this aggression. To succeed, their implementation requires a joint effort, and today’s decision is an essential tool to ensure any attempts to circumvent these measures will be stopped,” commented Pavel Blažek, Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency.
The crimes that are currently listed in the EU Treaty include terrorism, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children, drug trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, money laundering, corruption, counterfeiting, computer crime and organized crime.
As a reminder, EU member states have started discussions on reviewing future relations with Russia, taking into account the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Brussels’ proposal for relations includes isolation of Russia at the international level, introduction and implementation of restrictive measures against Russia and prevention of their circumvention.