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Do EU sanctions work?

Deutsche Welle

The European Union has increased its use of sanctions against “outlaw countries” in the last few years. But one analyst argues that it has failed to police them – as a result, the efficacy of sanctions remains unclear.

For an international power often dismissed as too soft, the European Union is becoming increasingly fond of using sanctions to coerce other countries to its will. But a new paper by Konstanty Gebert, of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), accuses the EU of a “wilful blindness” in the way that sanctions are imposed, which has led to inconsistent successes and protracted deadlocks.

As of June 2012, the EU had sanctions in place against 26 countries around the world. And there has been a sharp increase in the last three years – from 22 decisions in 2010 to 69 a year later. Most of these have been focused on “outlaw” countries like Syria and Iran, but the EU has also shown that it is more willing to spread these diplomatic and economic weapons around – imposing them on 16 different nations in 2002, but to 28 in 2011.

The term “sanctions” can of course refer to a range of measures, some political, others economic. Some aimed at governments, others at individuals within those governments, and others still at private individuals. Often it comes down to freezing financial assets, or blocking trade in certain industries.
And the aim of sanctions can be equally wide-ranging – they can either be punishment for severe human rights violations or democratic backsliding, or deterrents to prevent countries from carrying out actions that could threaten European security.