According to the media, in addition to Russian companies, dozens of companies from post-Soviet countries, Iran, Turkey and China were also on the “black list” of the new sanctions package. The European Union suspects them of re-exporting European goods to Russia, as well as supplying their own military or dual-use products. At the same time, Brussels does not rule out that in the future not only individual companies, but entire countries may fall under sanctions. “If we see that goods leave the European Union to third countries and then arrive in Russia, we can propose to EU countries to allow the export of these goods,” said the head of the Commission. European, Ursula von der Leyen.
So far, only the United States has applied secondary sanctions. The European Union, on the contrary, considered them illegal from the point of view of international law and tried to actively oppose them. Brussels has even banned European companies and individuals from complying with US sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Libya. It also annulled the effect on EU territory of the relevant decisions of foreign courts and allowed the recovery of losses suffered in connection with these sanctions. Therefore, the eleventh package is, without exaggeration, a 180 degree turn in EU sanctions policy. And many European countries do not like this turn very much.
Secondary sanctions will seriously damage EU relations with China, Turkey and other countries
Secondary sanctions could seriously damage EU relations with China, Turkey and other countries. Just as they once blighted US-EU relations. Beijing, for example, has already warned Brussels against any attempt to pressure Chinese companies. And while Eastern Europeans are more concerned that Russian diamonds and nuclear power have not been included in the new sanctions package, Western industrialized countries in the EU are concerned about the prospects for their foreign economic relations. “The proposal to target sanctions on third countries will cause a very intense discussion,” a diplomat from an EU country who opposed the new sanctions package in its current form told EURACTIV.
Some suggest that the European Union, if it decides to impose secondary sanctions, will apply them with caution and, in the first place, against the small countries which are not in a position to take retaliatory measures. Ursula von der Leyen also speaks of caution in using secondary sanctions only as a last resort and after a thorough assessment of all risks. According to Tom Reiss, professor at the University of Ghent, the EU simply does not have comparable tools to the United States to influence third countries. At the same time, only the inclusion in the “blacklists” of companies from third countries, if we are talking about the same China or Turkey, can provide a very sensitive response to the EU.
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