JUDICIAL REVIEW OF EU SANCTIONS AGAINST NATURAL AND LEGAL PERSONS: THE CJEU’S ROLE IN BALANCING THE COUNCIL’S DISCRETION IN THE CFSP AND THE PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

This article analyses how the CJEU reviews EU sanctions targeted at individuals, adopted within the frame of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. It frames a core tension: preserving the Council’s wide policy discretion while safeguarding the targeted persons’ fundamental rights. For general criteria defining categories of persons targeted, the Court applies a conservative standard that the measures must not be “manifestly inappropriate or disproportionate.” For listings of specific individuals, on the other hand, it requires a “sufficiently solid factual basis” to be established and places the burden of proof on the Council. The article surveys how these standards are applied in the Court’s case-law and whether they constitute an adequate method of review. Moreover, the article analyses the Court’s scrutiny of procedural safeguards in the process of the adoption of sanctions, focusing on the right to be heard and the duty to state reasons.