Two years after its last edition, and a pandemic later, the Doha Forum has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. At the heart of complex geopolitical issues, in a region fuelled by fire and powder, at a time in recent history when Europe is itself in the grip of war, this new edition of the second […]

The Council decided today to impose restrictive measures on an additional 15 individuals and 9 entities in respect of the ongoing unjustified and unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine, and of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. We are adding to our sanctions list even more oligarchs and regime-affiliated elites, their […]

The EU has progressively imposed sanctions and restrictive measures against Russia since 2014 in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea. In March 2015, EU leaders decided to link the existing economic sanctions regime to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements. Since Russia has never fully implemented the agreements, the EU has successively extended the sanctions. In […]

Two weeks ago Russia brought war back to Europe. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine grossly violates international law and the principles of the UN Charter and undermines European and global security and stability. It is inflicting unspeakable suffering on the Ukrainian population. Russia, and its accomplice Belarus, bear full responsibility for this […]

During the first day of the informal meeting, EU leaders adopted a statement on the Russian aggression against Ukraine. They discussed its consequences and the EU response. Statement of the EU heads of state or government on the Russian aggression against Ukraine (10 March 2022) On the second day, EU leaders will discuss how to […]

Last week, the European Parliament had another busy day voting and adopting a number of resolutions on very diverse aspects of international and EU-related matters. MEPs shook their fingers to Mexico, Myanmar and Azerbaijan while taking position on EU citizenship and taxation supporting the recovery strategy. I’m not sure how the EP resolutions contributed to […]

The Council decided today to impose restrictive measures on an additional 160 individuals in respect of the ongoing unjustified and unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine and of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. We are adding today to our sanctions list further key individuals and their family members […]

Following up on the restrictive measures adopted on 2 March in response to the involvement of Belarus in the unjustified and unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine, and in view of the continued gravity of the situation, the Council today adopted additional sectoral measures targeting the Belarusian financial sector. With these additional sectoral sanctions, we are […]