Europe Must Defend the ICC Against US Sanctions
The sanctions imposed by the United States against judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) constitute a serious attack on the independence of international justice and the rules-based multilateral order.
Spain has now joined Slovenia in urging the European Commission to take European protective measures against these extraterritorial sanctions. This call has also been reinforced by a former ICC prosecutor, who urged the EU to adopt a statute specifically blocking US sanctions against ICC members.
Volt Europa expressly supports this initiative, which is both necessary and appropriate.
The International Criminal Court is a central instrument for the enforcement of international law, the prosecution of war crimes, and the protection of universal human rights. When judges and staff members of international courts are intimidated through economic or political pressure, it is not merely an institution that is being attacked, but the fundamental principle that international law must apply independently of geopolitical interests.
It is troubling that sanctions against representatives of the ICC can, in practice, disrupt access to bank accounts, payment services, and international cooperation, including within the European Union itself. This creates a dangerous precedent for the political instrumentalization of economic power against international justice.
The political willingness to deploy punitive sanctions reaches beyond the ICC: the United States also imposed sanctions on a UN Special Rapporteur, but those measures were later suspended by a federal court and then lifted.
Volt Europa therefore calls for a coordinated and determined European response. The European Commission should immediately examine extending the EU Blocking Statute to cover sanctions against representatives of the ICC and, once extended, ensure its consistent enforcement. European banks, payment service providers, and companies require clear legal protection and certainty so they can continue cooperating with the ICC without fear of US secondary sanctions. EU member states should strengthen their political and financial support for the International Criminal Court and actively defend its institutional independence. In the long term, Europe needs greater strategic sovereignty in its financial and payment systems so that European foreign and justice policy cannot be constrained by unilateral measures imposed by other states. The European Union should present a united front internationally and make clear that attacks on international courts are attacks on the multilateral order as a whole.
Volt Europa stands for a Europe that does not merely defend the rule of law, human rights, and international law rhetorically, but safeguards them institutionally. The credibility of the European Union depends on whether it is prepared to protect independent international institutions even when this entails political pressure from abroad.
Anyone who wishes to preserve a rules-based international order must not allow judges of international courts to be intimidated or isolated through sanctions. Europe must act now, collectively, decisively, and in accordance with its own values.
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