The challenges of a sanctions machine: Some reflections on the legal issues of EU restrictive measures in the field of common foreign security policy

Abstract

As the largest economic bloc and the largest trading power in the world, the European Union uses restrictive measures as a foreign policy tool. More than 30 States and thousands of individuals and legal persons are subject to EU sanctions. This massive use of sanctions by the EU has raised several legal issues. Some of these problems were caused by flaws in the sanctions framework of the United Nations in the field of counter-terrorism. Autonomous sanctions, the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union without previous UN action, proved to be problematic too. The extensive case law of the EU Courts has demonstrated the deficiencies of the sanctions system but has also indirectly improved the quality of the procedures at UN and EU level. The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union could determine some changes in the policy of the European Union.