Making Sanctions Work - Political, Legal, and Economic Challenges of EU Restrictive Measures Florence School of Transnational Governance

Overview

The sanctions packages adopted by the EU, which intend to intensify pressure on Russia’s government and economy, have reignited traditional debates about the appropriate political, legal, and economic reach of restrictive measures. Politically, for instance, the legitimacy of international sanctions has been challenged on the basis of their unilateral coercive nature and because might affect domains that lie beyond strict targets. Issues of uniform implementation and effective enforcement have also emerged, resulting in a number of initiatives at the EU level.

Key Facts

On the legal side of Making Sanctions Work - Political, Legal, and Economic Challenges of EU Restrictive Measures program from Florence School of Transnational Governance, international sanctions have become one of the most voluminous fields of litigation before EU Courts. Through their case law, they actually shape the limits of this impactful foreign policy tool, giving an answer to unresolved questions related to the procedural rights of sanctioned persons, the burden and standard of proof, and the scope of judicial review, confidentiality, damages, etc. Some of the restrictive measures adopted in response to the Ukraine crisis, particularly anti-circumvention measures, have been criticised as regulating extraterritorial conduct.

Finally, the economics of the international sanctions put in place by the EU against Russia have awakened a singular interest among scholars and specialists. The keywords in that regard are ‘effectiveness’ and ‘impact’. Are EU sanctions effective as tools for conditioning Russia's actions? Can those measures be designed to reduce the negative impact on the EU’s economy?

Emphasis has also increasingly been put into place on implementation and enforcement. The effectiveness of restrictive measures fundamentally depends on the level of implementation by the private sector.