EUROPEAN COMMISSION (SANCTIONING POWERS) ACT

Spain · 26 Feb 2021, 13:10

First of all I would like to welcome Dr. Cocx to the chamber as Premier Commissioner, and thank him for his immediate action at the front of the European Commission. I do agree with you, Premier Commissioner, when you say we need to act "as a final guardian against injustice, violence, and terror across Member States". But, at the same time, I disagree when you say "European Institutions must be granted the powers to act against destabilising forces and violent regimes." That's not how things should be done, and we should give freedom to member states.

The many articles and sections this act has might be a great basis for another act, maybe on Council Condemnations, which are more effective and could be more flexible. Everybody could propose a condemnation while the Council could accept it or else, repeal it. It is much easier for us, Councillors, to continue with our work and we also get Commission a bit far from sanctions and a possible lose of neutrality when it comes to enforcing these sanctions, and Section I gives you the answer. I also don't like Article IV.I when it comes to the Premier Commissioner, as he could perfectly avoid sanctions for his country just because he is the Premier Commissioner, something pretty unfair.

It also worries me when it comes to the Council role. When sanctions are passed on a member state by the Commission, the Council is just "notified", which in my opinion is a kind of bad joke and makes the Council seem like a stupid institution. And even if we, the European Council, need to vote on renewals, I won't tolerate just a single notification to this chamber and giving full power to the Commission for a month, a 25% of their complete term without any supervision from the Council when it comes to sanctions. At least, the Premier has realised about his mistake and proposed an amendment on that, which I welcome. And even if I agree with some things said in Section IV, the European Union can't afford a petitioned Premier Commissioner, so I would rather pass a Constitutional Amendment to impeach the Premier instead of having a petitioned Premier, as Spain is not paying money to countries which managed to have their sanctions lifted even if they didn't deserve it, a feeling that I think I share with many others in this room.

On the Amendments proposed by Dr. Cocx, I'm not a fan of Amendment III, but the others are quite fine to me.

That's why I'm proposing the following Amendments:

Amendment I

SECTION I - SANCTION REQUESTS
~~(i.) A two-thirds majority of the European Commission may grant a Sanction Request only if the Premier Commissioner is not the dissenting party.~~

Amendment II

SECTION IV - APPEALS
IV. Other Member States may also appeal to end region-wide Sanctions ~~by petitioning the Premier Commissioner;~~ by a joint appeal along with the Sanction Subject;
V. The Premier Commissioner shall ~~then~~ meet with representatives from the appealing Member State if the European Court of Justice lifts Sanctions in order to seek for a compensation to the Sanction Subject.. ~~The Premier Commissioner may offer financial incentives to appealing Member States to compensate economic damage as a result of the region-wide sanctions imposed by the Sanction Enforcer;~~
VI. The proposed compensation shall be proposed to the European Council as a Compensation motion, which shall be passed by majority vote.

Donald Tusk
Deputy Speaker and Councillor for Spain

Fremet · 27 Feb 2021, 01:14

In light of newly proposed amendments, I will be extending the debate period until Monday, 1 March 2021 at 12h00 GMT.

Charles Michel
Council Speaker and Councilor for the Kingdom of Fremet

Fremet · 4 Mar 2021, 00:18

The debate period has ended. We will now vote on amendments.

The proposed amendments are as follows:

Amendment I: (Proposed by PC Cocx)

SECTION I - SANCTION REQUESTS

III. ~~Two~~ Four separate Sanction Sponsors must submit a Sanction Request against the same Member State in order for the Sanction Request to be considered.

Amendment II: (Proposed by PC Cocx)

SECTION II - SANCTION IMPLEMENTATION

I. Should the European Commission decide to grant a Sanction Request, ~~it will notify the European Council accordingly~~ the Premier Commissioner shall propose a Sanction motion to the European Council. Upon passage of this motion, the Premier Commissioner shall then assume the role of Sanction Enforcer;

Amendment III: (Proposed by PC Cocx)

SECTION III - SANCTION TYPES

III. Military Sanctions
(i.) Suspension of trade in arms and/or military equipment between Member States and the Sanction Subject;
(ii.) Suspension of military agreements between the Sanction Subject and other Member States;
(iii.) Infiltration and degradation of military installations belonging to the Sanction Subject either by cyberwarfare or direct military means;

Renumber Section III.IV as Section III.III

Amendment IV: (Proposed by Councilor Tusk)

SECTION I - SANCTION REQUESTS

~~(i.) A two-thirds majority of the European Commission may grant a Sanction Request only if the Premier Commissioner is not the dissenting party.~~

Amendment V: (Proposed by Councilor Tusk)

SECTION IV - APPEALS

IV. Other Member States may also appeal to end region-wide Sanctions ~~by petitioning the Premier Commissioner;~~ by a joint appeal along with the Sanction Subject;
V. The Premier Commissioner shall then meet with representatives from the appealing Member State if the European Court of Justice lifts Sanctions in order to seek for a compensation to the Sanction Subject. ~~The Premier Commissioner may offer financial incentives to appealing Member States to compensate economic damage as a result of the region-wide sanctions imposed by the Sanction Enforcer;~~
VI. The proposed compensation shall be proposed to the European Council as a Compensation motion, which shall be passed by majority vote.

Voting starts NOW and ends 7 March 2020 at 20h00 GMT.

I vote FOR Amendments I, II, and IV.
I vote AGAINST Amendments III and V.

Charles Michel
Council Speaker and Councilor for the Kingdom of Fremet

Leagio · 4 Mar 2021, 02:55

I Vote AGAINST all the Amendments.

Francis Plessis
EU Councilor for Leagio

Inimicus · 4 Mar 2021, 08:49

The Empire of Inimicus votes FOR Amendments I, II, III, and IV, and AGAINST Amendment V.

Nicholas Benfield
Interim Councillor for Inimicus

BrumBrum · 4 Mar 2021, 11:07

United Duchies votes for ammendments I, II. , IV and V and against Ammendment II
Sky Hooke , Deputy Councillour for United Duchies

Alkharya · 5 Mar 2021, 08:41

On behalf of the Alkharyan Republic, I vote FOR Amendment I and II, and vote AGAINST Amendment III, IV and V.

Metin Fazlı
European Councillor of the Alkharyan Republic

Spain · 5 Mar 2021, 10:09

I vote FOR Amendments I, II, IV and V and AGAINST Amendment III.

Donald Tusk
Deputy Speaker and Councillor for Spain

Spain · 8 Mar 2021, 21:37

Voting on amendments has now concluded.

With 5 votes FOR and 1 vote AGAINST, Amendments I and II have PASSED. With 1 vote FOR and 5 votes AGAINST, Amendment III has FAILED. With 4 votes FOR and 2 votes AGAINST, Amendment IV has PASSED. With 2 votes FOR and 4 votes AGAINST, Amendment V has FAILED.

Final voting begins NOW and will last until 22:05 GMT on March 11th, 2021.

On behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote FOR this act.

Donald Tusk
Deputy Speaker and Councillor for Spain

BrumBrum · 9 Mar 2021, 01:39

On behalf of United Duchies I vote for Skye Hook , Deputy Councillour for United Duchies

Fayrrendel · 9 Mar 2021, 04:31

On behalf of the Realm of Great Ruthund, I vote AGAINST this act.

Tony Odhinazen
EU Councilor, Ruthund

Alkharya · 9 Mar 2021, 07:34

On behalf of the Alkharyan Republic, I vote FOR this act.

Metin Fazlı
European Councillor of the Alkharyan Republic

Inimicus · 9 Mar 2021, 08:39

The Empire of Inimicus votes FOR this Act.

Interim Cllr Nicholas Benfield

Montenbourg · 10 Mar 2021, 16:25

On behalf of the Kingdom of Montenbourg, I vote FOR this act.

Emma Granger
Councillor for Montenbourg

Nofoaga · 10 Mar 2021, 16:37

On behalf of the Republic of Nofoaga, I vote FOR this act.

Mrs. Paul-Gabrielle Muzhare
EU-Councillor for the Republic of Nofoaga

Leagio · 11 Mar 2021, 04:43

On behalf of the Commonwealth of Leagio, I vote AGAINST this act.

Francis Plessis
EU Councilor for Leagio

Kingdom of Reitzmag · 11 Mar 2021, 05:12

On behalf of the Kingdom of Reitzmag, I vote AGAINST this act.

Yuridiana Yahontov
Interim Deputy Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

Pravoslaviya · 11 Mar 2021, 12:24

On behalf of the Kingdom of Pravoslaviya, I vote AGAINST this act. Tupac out.

Cllr Tupac Shakur

Spain · 11 Mar 2021, 21:37

Voting has now concluded. With 6 votes FOR and 4 votes AGAINST, this Act has PASSED.

Donald Tusk
Deputy Speaker and Councillor from Spain

Inimicus · 12 Mar 2021, 08:51

"I would like to thank all those Councillors and nation states who have made the passage of this Act possible. We are now one step closer to tackling the huge problem of rogue regimes in this Union. I am content that the Commission and the Council will act in tandem in this regard, and I am more than happy with the Act as amended."

Commissioner Walter Cocx