U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his government will move to change parts of the Brexit agreement if the EU doesn't engage in dialogue on revising the Northern Ireland protocol. In a May 16 piece for the Belfast Telegraph, Johnson said there will be a "necessity to act" if the EU doesn't change its position. The column came ahead of the prime minister's May 16 visit to Northern Ireland and after comments from U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who said that parts of the agreement could be overridden (see 2205120014).
The EU Court of Justice in a May 12 opinion dismissed Evariste Boshab's challenge of the General Court's decision to uphold his placement on the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation. Boshab had argued at the General Court and then at the ECJ that the European Council infringed on his right to be heard during the proceeding that saw his continued listing. The EU's high court said a formal hearing wasn't needed to guarantee an individual's right to be heard.
The EU could cap the price of natural gas to skirt high energy costs if Russia limits or cuts off the flow of gas, Bloomberg reported May 15. The European Commission is considering a package of energy-market intervention steps to replace Russian gas, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg News. Concerns over Russian retaliation to EU sanctions grow as Russia's economy suffers from restrictions placed on it after its invasion of Ukraine. Importers are worried over how to pay for Russian gas while avoiding breaching sanctions, Bloomberg said.
The US-EU Trade and Technology Council needs to limit its ambitions if it is to be successful, said Tyson Barker, head of the Technology and Global Affairs Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations, during a Washington International Trade Association webinar May 13.
The U.K. in a May 13 notice replaced the sanctions listing for one individual, removed another individual and amended the entries for 108 more under its Syria sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added Mohammad Al-Shaar to the sanctions list, replacing the entry for the same individual, formerly listed as Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Shaar. He's a Syrian military official involved in the violence in Homs.
The U.K. issued a General License May 12 allowing the Amsterdam Trade Bank, a subsidiary of the Russian Alfa-Bank, to make payments for its basic needs. ATB was listed under the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime. The license, titled "Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V -- winding down, basic needs and insolvency related payments," permits any individual to make, receive or process any payments in connection with any insolvency proceeding with ATB. The license also allows any individual to wind down any transactions with ATB or a subsidiary. It expires May 12, 2023.
Switzerland froze $2.2 billion in Russian assets in the past five weeks, Swiss official Erwin Bollinger said at a government briefing May 12, Bloomberg reported. The total amount frozen by Switzerland now stands at nearly $6.3 billion -- a number that is down since April 7 because around $3.4 billion was released after being frozen on a precautionary basis, Bloomberg said. The announcement comes after Kremlin critic Bill Browder said at a U.S. government-sponsored briefing on Russian money that the U.S. should reconsider its legal cooperation with Switzerland, Bloomberg reported. Despite Switzerland imposing sanctions on Russia that mirror the EU's, greater attention is being paid to the Swiss role as a haven for Russian money.
European think tank Bruegel this week launched a Russian crude oil exports tracker for shipments to the European Union. The tracker follows oil leaving the major western Russian ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Murmansk and Novorossiysk and uses “real-time data” to show the amount and destination of the exports, Bruegel said. The tracker will be updated weekly.
The EU would likely launch infringement procedures quickly against the U.K. and suspend the Brexit trade agreement if the British government revokes its trade commitments concerning Northern Ireland, a person familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg reported May 11. The EU's notice comes amid threats from the U.K. that it will revoke the Northern Ireland protocol, saying it disrupts trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., threatening the Good Friday Agreement that ended the years of sectarian fighting in the area.
The European Commission is accepting comments or questions ahead of the May 16 U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council stakeholder meeting. Submissions are due before 11 a.m. May 13. The session will feature a discussion on the “future priorities in the area of trade and secure supply chains” and the ways the TTC can “facilitate the green and digital transition.”