Autonomous EU sanctions by country and type, as of April 2013

The second category of autonomous sanctions may be imposed by the EU for a much broader array of reasons than UN sanctions. They may be wielded in the fight against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), two of the key threats for the EU identified in the European Security Strategy of 2003. In addition, the EU may levy sanctions against third countries as a response to violations of common EU norms and values, such as good governance, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, or to gross violations of international human rights norms (jus cogens) such as torture or forced labour as in the case of Burma/Myanmar.
The EU’s ambition to act as a distinctive normative and transformative power is clearly focused on its eastern and southern neighbourhood, including the candidate countries covered by its enlargement policy. In its eastern neighbourhood, the EU has upheld long-standing sanctions against the Belarusian leadership and, while not having made use of CFSP sanctions proper, the EU has reacted to the deterioration of democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine by delaying the signature of the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA).
In its southern neighbourhood the EU seeks to support the democratic transition in Egypt and Tunisia in the wake of the Arab Spring by freezing assets from the previous authoritarian regimes. And it aims to bring about regime change in Syria by employing the whole arsenal of its sanctions toolkit. The EU has also adopted targeted restrictive measures against individuals in EU candidate countries Serbia and Montenegro and the potential candidate country Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Particular emphasis has been placed on the African continent where the EU has made frequent use of the well-institutionalised consultations of the Cotonou Agreement to exert influence on the policy of ACP countries rather than to wield CFSP sanctions as in the cases of Guinea (Conakry) and Zimbabwe. Recently, the EU eased sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in view of the outcome of the Zimbabwean consti-tutional referendum of 16 March 2013.