The European Union’s sanctions response to Russia in 2022 reflected a fundamental shift in the way the bloc engages with economic statecraft. Compared to the limited and fragmented measures imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the sanctions following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine were stronger, more coordinated, and more sustained. This paper examines the political and institutional forces within the EU that shaped these differences, focusing on the evolving role of European bureaucracies in driving foreign policy decisions.
In 2014, sanctions against Russia were marked by hesitation and internal divisions. The European Council, dominated by the varied national interests of its member states, struggled to impose meaningful restrictions. Certain countries with stronger economic ties to Russia acted as a brake on harsher measures, while the European Commission played a relatively passive role, allowing national governments to set the pace. As a result, the sanctions were limited in scope and enforcement, failing to exert significant economic pressure.
By contrast, the EU’s 2022 response revealed a more centralized and decisive approach. The European Commission played a more proactive role in shaping sanctions policy, advancing proposals and applying pressure on hesitant member states through negotiation and strategic framing, rather than deferring to national governments. Member states that had previously resisted tough sanctions found themselves constrained by the momentum toward unity, as the scale of Russian aggression made inaction politically untenable. The paper argues that this shift in institutional dynamics was instrumental in enabling a more cohesive and sustained sanctions campaign, highlighting that effectiveness arises when power is shared rather than concentrated in a single EU body.
The study highlights that the EU’s ability to impose effective economic restrictions depends not only on external geopolitical events but also on its internal power structure. The increased role of supranational institutions in 2022 enabled the EU to act with greater speed and cohesion, demonstrating how bureaucratic evolution can directly shape the effectiveness of sanctions. Whether this marks a long-term transformation in EU foreign policy or a response specific to the crisis at hand remains an open question, but the findings suggest that institutional alignment plays a critical role in determining the bloc’s capacity to respond to international conflicts.
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