EU, US preparing to enforce Russian sanctions, EU official says

 The European Union is working with the US on a joint approach to enforcing their economic sanctions against Russia, European Commission Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand said.

“The wind-down period of contracts is coming to an end, so that is why now is the moment to be attentive and to look at circumvention and evasion,” Weyand said Wednesday at an event in Washington hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “There are some indications that there is circumvention but it’s not widespread yet.”

Weyand said the EU is working with the US to monitor and exchange data, including classified information. “That is something where we are very much relying on the superior US machinery to get insights into that,” she said.

US and EU officials plan a third meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council in the coming months, Weyand said, with an eye on translating their work into concrete projects -- such as a joint approach to sanctions enforcement.  

“We are basically whittling down the work in the 10 working groups to concrete projects that will materialize in the fall,” Weyand said. She said the council’s fourth meeting will likely take place in Europe some time next year.  

The EU also said it is considering sanctions as a “measure of last resort” for material breaches of the Paris Climate Agreement and International Labor Organization conventions. 

Weyand separately confirmed that the US launched a process in Geneva to consider ways to reform the World Trade Organization’s paralyzed appellate body. 

The talks will “continue into the autumn and then we will move into the phase of looking at possible solutions,” Weyand said. “We are open here to address the concerns of the US, some of which -- a lot of which -- we actually share.” 

The Trump administration paralyzed the WTO appellate body in December 2019 when it blocked all new appointments to the seven-member panel, saying it had overstepped its mandate.

The Biden administration has maintained its predecessor’s hold on appellate-body nominations, saying that the US “continues to have systemic concerns” with the functioning of the panel.