Request for urgent action concerning the inclusion of announced US sanctions against the ICC in the annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96 (Blocking Statute)
14.1.2025
Priority question for written answer P-000121/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Cecilia Strada (S&D), Matjaž Nemec (S&D), Marco Tarquinio (S&D), Mimmo Lucano (The Left), Alessandro Zan (S&D), Sandro Ruotolo (S&D), Luke Ming Flanagan (The Left), Benedetta Scuderi (Verts/ALE), Irena Joveva (Renew), Francisco Assis (S&D), Hilde Vautmans (Renew), Giorgio Gori (S&D), Mario Furore (The Left), Evin Incir (S&D), Chloé Ridel (S&D), Leire Pajín (S&D), Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Alessandra Moretti (S&D), Vicent Marzà Ibáñez (Verts/ALE), Estrella Galán (The Left), Annalisa Corrado (S&D), Reinier Van Lanschot (Verts/ALE), Elio Di Rupo (S&D), Pär Holmgren (Verts/ALE), Marc Botenga (The Left), Branislav Ondruš (NI), Brando Benifei (S&D), Carolina Morace (The Left), Hana Jalloul Muro (S&D), Valentina Palmisano (The Left)
After the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to impose sanctions on the entire ICC. The US Senate is currently discussing the bill, and President-elect Trump has hinted that he will enforce the sanctions as quickly as possible, with extraterritorial effects that will threaten the ICC’s very existence.
To safeguard the ICC, the international order and the EU’s economic actors that work with the ICC, the EU could counteract the US measures by leveraging Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96 (Blocking Statute). This action would send a powerful political message, be a targeted response to the US action and protect EU citizens’ interests.
Considering the fact that all EU Member States have ratified the Rome Statute and in view of the EU’s decades-long support for the ICC:
- 1.Will the Commission condemn the US sanctions against the ICC?
- 2.Does the Commission consider this instance to fall within the Blocking Statute’s scope? If so, is it ready to adopt a delegated act to include the new US sanctions in the Blocking Statute annex? If not, will the Commission propose modifications to the Blocking Statute in order to extend its field of application?
Supporters[1]
Submitted: 14.1.2025
- [1] This question is supported by Members other than the authors: Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Kateřina Konečná (NI), Hanna Gedin (The Left), Jonas Sjöstedt (The Left), Ilaria Salis (The Left), Leoluca Orlando (Verts/ALE), Dario Tamburrano (The Left), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Rudi Kennes (The Left)