Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

MEPs ponder parliament-level Russia sanctions

EU Observer

It is early days, they have no majority and it has never been done before, but MEPs in the Liberal group are pondering the creation of a European-Parliament-level travel ban list on Russian officials.

Group leader and former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt floated the idea in a statement on Thursday (2 May).

“I fully believe that the European Union should follow the US Congress and Senate in adopting a sanctions list. If the European Council fails to act in this regard, then the European Parliament should establish its own list based on the US Congress visa ban list,” he said.

Verhofstadt was referring to a US ban on 18 Russian officials said to be involved in the murder of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

The 37-year-old accountant died in suspicious circumstances in prison in 2009 after exposing corruption by high-level officials in the interior ministry.

The US Congress forced a reluctant State Department to put his alleged killers on a blacklist by threatening to block a US-Russia trade treaty if US diplomats did not act.

Under the EU treaty, the European Parliament has no powers on sanctions.

The EU foreign service can propose them and EU countries decide by unanimity whether or not to go ahead.

A Liberal group contact said one option is the US model – threatening to block other legislation where MEPs do have jurisdiction.