The EU will not commit to a proposal seeking to protect Europeans from US sanctions, following the Trump administration’s imposition of restrictions on judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for probing Israeli war crimes.
The idea, also floated by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez earlier this month, was met with a stonewall from the European Commission, which refrained from making any direct comment on the matter.
While the Brussels-executive says it is committed to supporting and protecting the ICC, it declined to say anything on Sánchez’s demands to trigger the EU’s blocking statute, which is designed to protect Europeans from sanctions imposed by other countries.
“We have explored and assessed concrete and feasible solutions to support the court and allow its staff to continue to work on a daily basis,” said Siobhán McGarry, a spokesperson for the commission.
McGarry declined to comment further when pressed to elaborate on those measures of support, and whether it would consider triggering the EU blocking statute.
“Beyond what I’ve just said, I don’t really have anything currently to add,” she said.
Belgium, France, and Slovenia also support triggering the statute.
Despite the pressure, the US-led restrictions against 11 judges, imposed last year, has effectively excluded them from basic banking and IT services.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who has had his post temporarily suspended due to sexual misconduct allegations, had all his bank accounts in the UK frozen. The ICC’s Beti Hohler had her bank account closed in Slovenia, an EU member state.
The political sensitivity comes amid possible EU sanctions against two top Israeli ministers, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The commission first proposed putting Ben-Gvir and Smotrich under a visa-ban and asset freeze in September 2025. This was vetoed by Hungary and then placed on a back burner.
But commission president Ursula von der Leyen never formally retracted the proposal, so it remains “on the table” and could be revived with the new Hungarian government.
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