{"id":452650,"date":"2026-05-07T18:43:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/07\/spagna-e-slovenia-chiedono-allue-di-bloccare-le-sanzioni-usa-contro-la-corte-penale-internazionale-ma-bruxelles-tace\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:27:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:27:48","slug":"spain-and-slovenia-are-calling-on-the-eu-to-block-us-sanctions-against-the-international-criminal-court-but-brussels-remains-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/07\/spain-and-slovenia-are-calling-on-the-eu-to-block-us-sanctions-against-the-international-criminal-court-but-brussels-remains-silent\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain and Slovenia are calling on the EU to block US sanctions against the International Criminal Court. But Brussels remains silent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 After unsuccessfully calling for the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel<\/a>, Spain and Slovenia<\/strong> are once again attempting to elicit a response from Brussels in the face of a world where the principles of international law are increasingly being called into question. This time, the request from the Prime Minister of Madrid, Pedro Sanchez<\/strong>, and that of Ljubljana, Robert Golob<\/strong>, to the European Commission<\/strong> is to protect the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN from sanctions imposed against some of their members by the United States<\/strong>. In particular, the two governments are calling on the EU executive to activate the Blocking Statute<\/a>, a <\/span>legal shield designed by the EU to protect European individuals and entities from the extraterritorial effects of measures imposed by third countries. The response from the Berlaymont building, however, is currently lacking, with no indication of whether the EU executive supports activating the instrument requested by the leaders of Spain and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

US sanctions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The International Criminal Court, which has been trying individuals responsible for the most serious violations of international and humanitarian law since 2002, has come under fire from Washington following President Donald Trump’s <\/strong>return<\/span> to the White House in November 2024. It was during those very days that The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, in relation to the actions of the Tel Aviv military in the Gaza Strip. Accusing the judges in The Hague of targeting a US ally, in February 2025, the tycoon <\/em>issued an executive order<\/a> imposing a series of sanctions against several ICC members, ranging from the freezing of assets on US territory to the closure of bank accounts and services, as well as a ban on entry into the US and a series of measures against those who collaborate with the Court<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Trump administration\u2019s measures have affected 11 judges at the Court<\/strong> (including the Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan<\/strong>, and the two Deputy Prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan<\/strong> and Mame Mandiaye Niang<\/strong>). Subsequently, in July last year, Washington\u2019s retaliation reached the United Nations, when similar sanctions<\/a> were imposed on the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese<\/strong>. Finally, three leading figures from movements defending Palestinian rights<\/strong> were added to the sanctions list, precisely because of their links with the ICC.<\/p>\n

The political nature<\/strong> of these measures, moreover, became clear last December, when an investigation<\/a> by the online site Middle East Eye<\/em><\/strong> revealed how the US administration had pressured the Court to halt its investigations into Israeli war crimes in Palestine (as well as those committed by the United States itself in Afghanistan following the 2001 invasion), offering the lifting of sanctions in return<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The request from Spain and Slovenia<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Faced with such a scenario, the proposal put forward by Spain and Slovenia is to apply the EU Regulation 2271<\/a><\/span>, which in 1996 established the “blocking statute”. Originally designed to protect European economic operators from the extraterritorial application of laws from third countries (primarily the US) that compromise the interests of the entire Union, the two governments aim to enable this mechanism to transcend its purely commercial logic<\/strong>. The legal basis for applying it in the context of the ICC, moreover, would be fairly easy to identify: although not a Community institution, the Court is based in an EU Member State (the Netherlands) and could thus benefit from the protection afforded by the Statute<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Spain will not look the other way, and the EU cannot stand idly by in the face of this persecution<\/strong>,” wrote Pedro S\u00e1nchez on X<\/a> in announcing his appeal. “For this reason, we call on the Commission to activate the Blocking Statute to protect the independence of the ICC and the UN and their efforts to end the genocide in Gaza: while some attempt to dismantle the international order by force, Spain will continue to defend human rights and those who work to ensure they are respected<\/strong>,” he added.<\/p>\n

Expressing “strong support” for the Madrid initiative, Robert Golob stressed<\/a> that “Europe\u2019s response has so far been inadequate given the gravity of the situation<\/strong>” and recalled that “the EU\u2019s fundamental values cannot be put to a price and the independence of international courts is non-negotiable.”<\/p>\n

Among those expressing satisfaction with the proposal put forward by the two governments is Marco Cappato<\/strong>, who has long been involved in civil society in this fight to safeguard the role of the ICC. The founder of Eumans and former Radical MEP had organised a demonstration in front of the Berlaymont Building<\/a> on 14 April, also announcing the start of a relay hunger strike to urge the Commission to take action. \u201cFollowing Sanchez\u2019s statements,\u201d he said today, \u201cwe hope that Ursula von der Leyen will finally make a decision: we will continue with the fast and with new demonstrations<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission\u2019s (non-)response<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While individual Member States may request the activation of the blocking statute, it is up to the Commission to actually implement it. And\u2014judging by today\u2019s statement from the EU executive\u2019s spokesperson, Siobhan McGarry<\/strong>\u2014it is difficult to imagine that Cappato\u2019s hope will be realised<\/strong>. During the usual midday press briefing<\/a>, McGarry merely stated that the Berlaymont building \u201chas consulted with Member States on what concrete and feasible solutions might be available to support the Court,\u201d refusing to express a view for or against the possibility of invoking the Blocking Statute<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While awaiting a clearer response from Brussels, Sanchez has no choice but to act independently and express\u2014even if only symbolically\u2014his country\u2019s solidarity with the targets of Trump\u2019s diplomatic offensive. Today (7 May), the Spanish Prime Minister received Francesca Albanese at the Moncloa Palace and presented her with the Order of Civil Merit<\/b>.<\/a> “Public responsibility also entails a moral obligation not to look the other way<\/strong>,” wrote the Spanish Prime Minister on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The proposal put forward by Prime Ministers Pedro S\u00e1nchez and Robert Golob also aims to protect the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese. The idea is to invoke the EU Blocking Statute, which allows the extraterritorial effects of third-country sanctions against European entities to be neutralised<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":452630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[28877,27709,28934,34011,34012],"class_list":["post-452650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-court-penal-international-en","tag-pedro-sanchez-en","tag-robert-golob-and","tag-sanzioni-alla-corte-penale-internazionale","tag-statuto-di-blocco"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452651,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452650\/revisions\/452651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}