Brussels
The European Union is preparing sanctions against the junta responsible for the 26 July coup d'état in Niger. Meeting informally in Toledo, Spain, to also take stock of aid to Ukraine, the Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-Seven gave the green light to a new framework of targeted individual sanctions, targeting the perpetrators of the putsch of 26 July or all those preventing the return to constitutional order and the restoration of President Bazoum.
Inspired by sanctions already applied by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose President Omar Alieu Touray was also invited to Toledo, they should include the suspension of financial transactions, the freezing of assets or travel bans in the EU. It will take several more weeks for them to materialize and enter into force, the idea at this stage being to equip the architecture of sanctions to send a "first message" to the putschists, says a diplomat.
The initiative for these sanctions was taken at the beginning of August at the instigation of Paris and Berlin. But the EU will not impose any punishment on the population "already punished elsewhere" by the coup, said Thursday the High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, while Nigeriens begin to suffer from the economic blockade on certain goods imposed by ECOWAS. For the High Representative, this meeting also made it possible to recall the "full support to the France", which defends its ambassador on the spot and "the full support for ECOWAS and all the proposals addressed to the EU", between sanctions or diplomatic solutions.
" READ ALSO Arthur Banga: "In Niger, ECOWAS has the capacity to act militarily"
Caution on support for military intervention
But while Paris supports any military action that ECOWAS would consider to restore Mohamed Bazoum, European ministers and the High Representative were a little more cautious on Thursday. If Josep Borrell has not ruled out that the EU could support such an intervention, in financial form for example, the Twenty-Seven support "the diplomatic way" above all. "Nobody wants military intervention," he said. This informal meeting, limited in announcements and advances, allowed ministers to start discussing how the EU can better anticipate and respond to these coups that have multiplied in the Sahel.
On Wednesday, the Twenty-seven had indeed been taken aback by the events in Gabon, not yet being able to position themselves. However, events are of a little less concern to Borrell, whom he attributes above all to unfair elections when the situation is much more serious in Niger. "It is clear that things did not go well. It is clear that we cannot say that it has been a success because we see the proliferation of military coups and the presence of Wagner in the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso," the Spaniard said at the start of the meeting. "We are going to have to review our policy thoroughly."