Experts from the Association for International Affairs (AMO), the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI) and the More Resilient Czech Republic project appeal to political leaders and relevant authorities to support measures to improve enforcement of international sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia. They presented a working version of their recommendations to the Czech government and EU officials for the first time on the side panel of the international GLOBSEC conference. Following the recent publication of the final version of the recommendations for the Czech Republic, they are now presenting the final draft of the actions for the EU institutions.

The recommendations concern institutional capacity and its strengthening, the involvement of EU agencies that already provide support to Member States, the planning of a new budget, support for investigative work related to sanctions monitoring, the acquisition, processing and sharing of data (specifically on sanctioned entities and data on circumvention of export controls), the ability of the European Parliament to monitor and strengthen the sanctions regime, third countries (notably China and Belarus), the issue of confiscation, and Western companies operating in Russia.

New recommendations to the European Parliament and the Commission

Together with our partners, we have prepared a set of recommendations for the new European Parliament and the European Commission on how to strengthen the implementation of sanctions against Russia. The key points of these recommendations are:

• A proactive approach: the EU should take a leading role in sanctions enforcement and align its regime with other international partners such as the US and the UK.
• Transparency and accountability: EU institutions should regularly monitor and publish data on the implementation of sanctions to enhance their effectiveness and credibility.
• Strengthening institutional capacity: Using and strengthening the roles of institutions such as FRONTEX, OLAF, Europol, Eurojust and the emerging AMLA to better enforce sanctions.

Challenges in the current EU sanctions regime

The current EU sanctions regime suffers from fragmentation and lack of coordination between Member States. This situation weakens the impact of sanctions on the Russian war effort and increases the costs of implementation. There is a gap between the EU’s stated objectives and reality, where national political and economic interests often outweigh common security.

Third country involvement and international cooperation

To increase the effectiveness of EU sanctions policy, we propose the following measures:

• Increase institutional capacity and funding: Provide sufficient resources to EU institutions and Member States for the implementation and enforcement of sanctions.
• Speeding up decision-making processes: Introduce qualified majority voting on sanctions issues to respond more quickly to current threats.
• Engage civil society and increase transparency: Promote cooperation with NGOs, media and experts and publish data on sanctions implementation.