Ivan Štefanec, Member of the European Parliament, has sent a written question to the European Commission and the European External Action Service to ask them how they monitor the process of implementation by the EU Member States of sanctions against Russia.
As Štefanec underlines, the EU has recently decided to extend by six months, till the end of January 2016, the period of validity of sanctions imposed on Russia for not implementing the Minsk 2 agreement. The public access to information on concrete cases of the implementation of sanctions is very limited, however. In particular with regard to restrictive measures, such as the ban on entry to the EU or freezing of assets – lists the MEP. For that reason, Štefanec addressed the EC and the EEAS to ask how these EU bodies verify the implementation of sanctions by the EU Member States and where can the public opinion find relevant information on this issue.
The written questions of the Slovak MEP is one of the fruits of the camping carried by the Open Dialog Foundation that has addressed Ministries of Foreign Affairs of all twenty-eight EU Member States, calling for greater transparency and rendering public information on the implementation of sanctions against Russia.