On Thursday 26 February, the EU Council decided to strengthen the scope of the EU’s restrictive counter-terrorism measures (EU Terrorist List) by expanding the criteria for sanctions.
The EU will now be able to target key members of groups and entities on its list who play a key role in planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating terrorist acts.
Similarly, restrictive measures may be imposed against persons, groups and entities associated with persons involved in terrorist acts, including through their participation in financing or in terrorist training and recruitment.
The EU Council also introduced a travel ban for those on the list, in addition to the asset freeze and the ban on making funds or economic resources available to them.
Furthermore, the EU Council completed its periodic review of the list of persons, groups and entities subject to restrictive measures for their involvement in terrorist acts and maintained this list unchanged. Thirteen individuals and 23 groups and entities are currently on the EU Terrorist List, according to the EU Council.
The EU Terrorist List is distinct from the EU regime transposing UN Security Council resolutions and targeting Al-Qaida and ISIL/Da’esh, but also from the autonomous EU sanctions against Da’esh and Al-Qaida and their supporters, as well as the sanctions regime applying to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their supporters. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)