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.
