The EU and International Sanctions - Ahead of the UN, Above the Member States

Sanctions are a tool of foreign policy used by states to assert their interests. In most cases, nowadays, they are designed and implemented multilaterally through various regional, international or global bodies (e.g. the EU, the OSCE, or the UN). Interestingly, sanctions have been used increasingly, regardless of their having a mixed reputation for their success or effectiveness. The EU has a well-established sanctions policy with roots already in the 1950s, which has been developing rapidly since the 1990s. The paper poses the research question of whether the EU can be regarded as a regional, or even a global, actor in terms of the issue of international sanctions. The author claims that the question deserves a positive answer: Firstly, yes because, since the end of the Cold War, the sanctions activity of the EU has overtaken that of the UN. Secondly, yes because the EU has proven itself to have a relatively stronger framing power over the sanctions policies of its Member States than the UN. Also the current Czech sanctions policy has been strongly influenced by the EU. In this sense, the actorness of the EU has proven competitive both globally, as well as within its Member States.