The Justice Ministers of the Member States, meeting in the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council on Friday 10 March, discussed the state of play of judicial responses and the fight against impunity for crimes committed in the context of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
In this regard, the Swedish Presidency has stated that these legal responses are “a priority”. The EU Council also stressed the importance of establishing an ‘International Coordination Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine’ (see EUROPE 13135/12) in The Hague, which Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said would be operational by this summer. Its role would be to record evidence of assaults and prepare cases for future prosecutions.
Furthermore, the start of the cooperation for the international database for Eurojust was also announced. A conference will be held in London on 20 March to support national courts and investigations into the situation in Ukraine.
Definition of criminal offences and penalties for breaches of EU sanctions
The EU Justice Ministers also discussed the state of play of the Directive on criminal offences and penalties for breaches of EU sanctions. The Swedish Presidency of the Council stressed that Member States “welcomed” the draft directive presented by the Commission on 2 December 2022 to ensure the effective implementation of EU restrictive measures by establishing minimum rules for the definition of offences and sanctions, in the context of the war of aggression against Ukraine (see EUROPE 13076/21).
However, it was noted that some technical issues, including Article 3 of the proposal which sets out the acts that would be considered as criminal offences under EU sanctions, are being further examined with a view to a general approach proposal.
While all countries attested to their full cooperation on this issue, differences emerged. Poland has asked Germany to abandon its eighteen-month vacatio legis, which Sebastian Kaleta, the Polish Secretary of State for Justice, considers “too long to transpose a few lines of regulation”. “I think that building a pipeline via the Baltic would be faster”, he said. For its part, Greece has expressed its disagreement with the harmonisation of certain criminal offences, in particular because of a lack of action in terms of meaningful sanctions.
Confiscation of assets
As Member States approved a progress report on the subject (see EUROPE 13135/10), Commissioner Didier Reynders welcomed the “strong support” of Member States for the directive on the freezing and confiscation of assets, which will target the assets of criminal and terrorist groups, but also of Russian oligarchs subject to EU sanctions. “Some Member States already have the possibility of confiscating the assets” of those subject to the restrictive measures, said the commissioner, who expressed confidence that trilogues with the European Parliament could begin as early as this summer.
The Commissioner also mentioned a role for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in the confiscation of assets and referred to the work that will be done in a second phase on the use of these confiscated assets to rebuild Ukraine. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry et Solenn Paulic)