The US wants the EU to firm up their sanctions policies. \u00a0A set back in court this week shows them weakening.<\/p>\n
Nicholas HIrst writes: \u00a0The General Court of the European Union on Monday annulled European\u00a0sanctions against\u00a0a Ukrainian oligarch,\u00a0harshly criticizing the evidence relied on by European countries and delivering a blow to the bloc\u2019s fledgling sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
The court struck down\u00a0a March 2014 decision by the Council that froze the assets of Andriy Portnov and imposed an EU travel ban.\u00a0The judges blasted the EU for relying solely on\u00a0accusations from the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office of Ukraine, without corroborating the charges.<\/p>\n
The letter from the prosecutor, the court noted, failed \u201cto provide\u00a0any details concerning either the facts alleged against Mr. Portnov or his responsibility in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling is more symbolic than anything because Portnov, an advisor to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych,\u00a0was removed from the sanctions list in March. Still, the consequences of the ruling could be far-reaching.<\/p>\n
Like Portnov, other\u00a0blacklisted\u00a0oligarchs\u00a0have appealed to EU courts, complaining they have been sanctioned solely based on a recommendation from Ukraine\u2019s public prosecutor.<\/p>\n
One of them is Mykola Azarov, Ukraine\u2019s prime minister from 2010-2014, who has challenged his inclusion on the EU sanctions list. His lawyer, Alexander Egger of the Austrian law firm Lansky, Ganzger + partner, said the ruling will have \u201cconsequences on other pending cases\u201d and that the EU institutions needed to \u201cstudy their cases more carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s\u00a0sanctions regime\u00a0is\u00a0a major plank of its efforts to\u00a0contain the Russian-inspired\u00a0violence in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The judgment could strain relations between Europe and the\u00a0U.S. government.<\/p>\n
The U.S. government is \u201cincreasingly concerned about weaknesses in the European sanctions mechanism,\u201d Anthony Gardner, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, warned\u00a0in July. In a speech earlier this year, Gardner expressed concern that Brussels had yet to develop \u201crecords that will withstand rigorous judicial scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Council had justified including Portnov on the list last year by describing him as \u201csubject to criminal proceedings in Ukraine \u2026 in connection with the embezzlement of Ukrainian state funds and their illegal transfer outside Ukraine.\u201d But the court concluded Portnov was at the time only the subject of a preliminary investigation.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s ruling is the latest in a string of defeats for the EU over sanctions. Judges have annulled sanctions leveled against Hamas, an EU-designated terrorist organization, the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan militant group also listed as a terrorist organization, and,\u00a0earlier this month, the Belarusian owners of Dynamo Minsk football club.<\/p>\n
The Commission recalled that Portnov had been removed from the EU sanctions list in March and said it and the Council were \u201cstudying carefully the ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will reflect on the options open to them and will, in due course, decide on any appropriate remedial action,\u201d said a Commission spokesperson.<\/p>\n
The US wants the EU to firm up their sanctions policies. \u00a0A set back in court this week shows them weakening. Nicholas HIrst writes: \u00a0The General Court of the European Union on Monday annulled European\u00a0sanctions against\u00a0a Ukrainian oligarch,\u00a0harshly criticizing the … Continue reading ![\"UkraineOligarchs\"](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/UkraineOligarchs-300x220.jpg\")
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