In the European Union, rather than creating a new body to investigate sanctions circumvention, the powers of the existing EU prosecutor should be expanded and reinforced with additional staff.
This was stated in a comment to Guildhall by Member of the European Parliament from Germany (CDU/CSU) Michael Gahler.
According to the parliamentarian, the EU already has an institutional foundation that can be used to investigate sanctions violations. “I mean, yes, we have an EU prosecutor…,” he noted, adding that “these powers should be expanded in order to deal with this,” and then that body “would receive additional staff.”
He stressed that this path would be more practical than creating a new structure. “If we add this to an already existing institution, it is easier than creating something new,” the parliamentarian said. According to him, this is especially important “when certain people may try to block it.”
That is why, in his view, the EU should follow the path of strengthening the mechanism that is already in place. “We should expand, so to speak, by implementing the powers of the already existing EU prosecutor, strengthening them or expanding the scope of competence,” he said. In his assessment, “this could be one of the ways, or a simpler way, than creating something entirely new.”
The parliamentarian also linked this issue to the broader problem of weak enforcement in sanctions policy. According to him, “people do not really understand why there is such a large gap” — “between established cases and actual convictions.” He stressed: “That is the problem, because it encourages the Russians and their partners to continue doing what they are doing.”
In this regard, he added, expanding the powers of the EU prosecutor could become one of the tools for reducing this gap. “I am really trying to point exactly to that,” the parliamentarian noted.
Earlier, the European Parliament had already proposed creating a single EU prosecutor for cases involving sanctions circumvention. Czech MEP Markéta Gregorová stated that national prosecutors often lack resources and specialized units, while sanctions circumvention cases are complicated by the need to prove intent and collect evidence in third countries.
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