On Wednesday 3 May, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, presented a new EU sanctions regime targeting those responsible for serious acts of corruption around the world.
“The EU is not open for business for those who engage in corruption, wherever that occurs”, he warned the media.
The High Representative’s proposal is to establish a horizontal framework “to address serious acts of corruption worldwide in particular in order to safeguard the values, fundamental interests and security of the Union, to consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law and principles of international law”, according to the text. “Serious acts of corruption can also threaten international peace and security by fostering terrorism, organised crime and other crimes”, Borrell said.
Passive or active bribery of a public official or misappropriation of funds or assets by a public official, including the laundering of proceeds of such acts, could be deemed to constitute serious acts of corruption. This is particularly the case in respect of countries on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes or where there are strategic gaps in the domestic anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regimes that pose significant threats to the EU financial system.
The targeted restrictive measures will include an asset freeze and ban on visas for individuals and an asset freeze for entities. It would also be prohibited to make funds and economic resources available to them.
This proposal must be agreed unanimously by the EU Council. While the European Parliament is not expected to give its consent to this, it has long called for such a sanctions regime.
Currently, two regimes of EU restrictive measures allow for the sanctioning of corruption officials: the Lebanon regime, adopted in 2021 (see EUROPE 12773/15), and the Moldova regime, adopted in 2023 (see EUROPE 13172/37). Both of the schemes are currently empty.
In parallel, the European Commission also presented new measures to fight corruption in the EU (see other news).
See the High Representative’s proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/6nt (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)