Many people in Brussels are still well disposed towards the Americans. Even a customs agreement that was difficult to digest was sold as a profit last summer because it created security for companies.
But what the government under Donald Trump announced last Friday is now causing loud opposition in the EU. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced that the United States was sanctioning the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC). "Either the ICC stops its threats or we put an end to the ICC," Rubio said - shortly after it was announced that former ICC judge Navi Pillay would receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
"If the USA punishes judges and prosecutors because they fulfill their mandate, then that is simply intimidation of the judiciary," says MEP Axel Voss, who sits on the EU Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee for the European People's Party.
USA is not an ICC member
The USA is not a member of the International Criminal Court and does not recognize its jurisdiction. In principle, US citizens can also be convicted in The Hague if they commit crimes such as genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in the territory of one of the 125 members.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Neither country is a member of the Court.
Now the USA wants to cut off the Hague court from the international financial system. In the future, companies will no longer be allowed to conduct transactions with him or his employees. This means, for example, that banks that have US operations are no longer allowed to make transfers to accounts of the Court or its employees. Tomoko Akane, the President of the Court, calls this an attack on the international legal order.
âYou canât accept it as an EUâ
"But it is also an attack on the European Union," says SPD MEP and chairman of the Trade Committee, Bernd Lange. Because the criminal court is located in The Hague, and therefore the sanctions are directed against activities that take place within the European Union, said Lange. âSo they have an extraterritorial effect - and that is an element that cannot be accepted as a European Union at all.â
The USA has long imposed sanctions on individual ICC judges and prosecutors. They can no longer use their credit cards and US platforms such as Uber, Airbnb and PayPal. The EU has not yet responded to this because it is afraid of conflict with the US President. That could now change.
âItâs time to take decisive actionâ
In the EU Parliament, however, more and more MPs across all factions are calling for the so-called Blocking Statute to be activated, including Voss and Lange. The regulation would ban European companies from participating in American sanctions.
Member states such as the Netherlands and Belgium are in favor. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also holds the prospect of it. Barrot said they were prepared to at least put the Blocking Statute on the table as an option. The federal government is still holding back.
The EU Commission would have to activate the instrument. But Brussels still wants to negotiate with Washington because the US sanctions won't take effect for another six months. Liberal Renew MEP Sandro Gozi says it is now important to coordinate with Canada, the UK and Japan and act decisively.
"There is no doubt that this is a very serious incident that deepens the rift between the United States and the European Union," Gozi said. This would plunge âwhat was previously referred to as the Westâ even further into crisis.
