PR | UEF Calls for Immediate EU Action to Protect the ICC and Activate the EU Blocking Statute
On this July 17, World Day for International Justice, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) reaffirms its support to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a unique jurisdiction in the world, which embodies one of the major achievements of international justice, promoting international law and victim’s redress.
We strongly condemn the Trump Administration's ongoing interference and unjustified sanctions against ICC judges and prosecutors and in particular the recent statement by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing that Washington will work to “systematically disable” and “dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, if necessary.”
In fact, Marco Rubio accused the Court of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with the force of so-called international law,” and described it as an institution “backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernmental organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments.” The State Department confirmed the campaign will expand sanctions, visa revocations, and travel bans against ICC judges, prosecutors, and affiliated organizations, while pressing allied governments, including EU Member States, to reject the Court’s jurisdiction or risk losing U.S. security cooperation. This marks a sharp escalation from targeted sanctions to an explicit, government-wide effort to incapacitate the Court altogether.
The Union of European Federalists recalls that the European Union has been among the strongest supporters of the ICC and its mandate. The ICC exemplifies the belief that some crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, the crime of aggression) are so grave that they concern the whole of humanity.
In this context, we view the Trump administration actions as an unacceptable attack on international justice. The extraterritorial enforcement of these measures within the European Union is a clear violation of our legal and political sovereignty. It attempts to compel EU-based entities to participate in a blockade against an international judicial body that the Union itself is bound by treaty to support. The EU Blocking Statute was designed precisely for this scenario in 1996: to protect European operators from the unlawful application of foreign legislation.
The demand to shield the ICC is rooted in the clear, established mandate of the European Parliament. Throughout 2025 and into 2026, the Parliament has exerted intense and sustained pressure with several urgent Parliamentary questions on the European Commission to deploy this legal shield, echoing the demands of Member States like Slovenia, civil society organizations, and the ICC itself. In particular in its Resolution 2025/2528 adopted on 12 March 2025 the European Parliament expressed its “utmost concern about US sanctions against ICC, its prosecutors, judges and staff, which constitute a serious attack on the international justice system” and called upon “the Commission to urgently activate the Blocking Statute and on Member States to urgently increase their diplomatic efforts in order to protect and safeguard the ICC and the indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system”.
However, despite these clear directives, and despite public statements by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa defending the ICC's independence from Washington's pressures, the executive is actively ignoring the repeated, explicit calls of the European Parliament.
Domènec Ruiz Devesa, president of UEF and MEP 2019-2024 stated that: “The EU should react by protecting ICC, defending international Justice and stopping Donald Trump and his allies' dream of a world governed by impunity and arms”.
The UEF is committed to promote International Justice, fight impunity and protect victims of human rights crimes. We firmly support the mobilization led by Eumans and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the campaign of the Coalitions for ICC and call for the immediate activation of the EU Blocking Statute to protect the ICC.
READ THE UEF STATEMENT ON THE EU BLOCKING STATUTE AND THE DEFENSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
PRESS CONTACT
Mathilde Baudouin, Secretary General of the UEF