Friday

29th Mar 2024

Opinion

EU-Iran: sanctions are no substitute for real diplomacy

  • Tehran - the EU will be a better partner for the US if it boosts relations with Iran (Photo: kamshots)

Looking beyond the next round of negotiations in April in Kazakhstan, the EU should formulate a strategic approach towards Iran.

In its approach towards Iran, the EU employs the so-called twin-track method.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

On one hand, stringent financial sanctions are employed to bite hard into the Iranian economy.

On the other hand, the EU is leading negotiations in a collective diplomatic effort with five countries, the US, Russia, China, Germany, the UK and France, the so-called E3+3.

But despite the EU's prominence at the negotiating table (the talks are chaired by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton), its real relevance to the Iran problem is through its sanctions.

The effectiveness (or, in other words, the damage to Iran's economy) of the sanctions is considered to be the decisive factor for whether Iran falls into line with international concerns on its nuclear programme.

This approach is not adequate.

In order to develop its role as a relevant international actor, the EU should step up its diplomatic efforts on Iran.

Independently of its position as the chair of the E3+3, the EU needs its own strategic vision on Iran, a vision for a long term relationship with the country.

Why?

Firstly, because the sanctions are by their nature a transitory instrument - they are designed to be phased out if the talks go well.

As the April talks grow closer, there is increasing speculation that a deal could be reached.

Iran, weakened by sanctions-induced economic losses, is showing more flexibility and the US administration is more open than ever to a detente with its decades-old enemy.

The EU should make preparations now for a post-sanctions phase. If or when the sanctions go, they will leave a vacuum in EU-Iran relations.

If they stay, going into Iran's presidential elections, due in June, or longer, they will also pose new challenges.

There is no such thing as a sanctions status quo.

The effects are dynamic.

They are multiplying, affecting broader sections of Iranian society, hurting more and more the Iranian middle class, its political moderates, as well as vulnerable minorities.

The EU will come under increasing pressure to mitigate the humanitarian cost of its actions, to address criticisms that the measures are neither as "smart" nor as "targeted" as they were supposed to be.

Secondly, the EU needs a new approach because its interests in Iran go way beyond the nuclear dossier.

Iran is the EU's geographic neighbour.

Individual EU member states have much closer economic, cultural and people-to-people links with Iran than the US does.

If the EU aspires to play a meaningful role in the Middle East - on Syria, on the Arab-Israeli conflict, on the increasing tension between the Gulf regimes and Iran - it must build relations with all the relevant actors, including Iran.

If the EU aspires to influence Iran's dire human rights situation, it needs an open dialogue on rights as part of a new strategic framework.

Its current modus operandi - of publishing diplomatic reproaches - does not work.

Recently, the administration of US leader Barack Obama offered the prospect of bilateral talks with Iran.

While it remains uncertain whether this will ever come to be or produce results, it creates an opportunity for a new chapter on Iran geopolitics.

It is not a problem for the EU to let the US take the lead - they sing from the same hymn book on nuclear non-proliferation and on human rights.

It is also not a problem for EU-US relations or for the E3+3 process if the EU develops an independent bilateral policy on Iran.

Deeper EU-Iran relations, including the option of opening an EU embassy in Tehran, would increase its relevance as a strategic partner for the US and as the E3+3 chair.

For sure, Iran is not an easy bedfellow.

It is an epic challenge to persuade its leaders to reduce its number of centrifuges, to democratise, to respect international conventions on human rights.

But if the EU wants to play a real part in trying to make this happen, sanctions are not enough.

The writer is a Finnish MEP in the Green group in the European Parliament and the chair of the parliamentary delegation to Iran

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Question marks over EU sanctions on Iran

Greece is temporarily blocking an EU gas embargo on Iran. But the big question is: are EU sanctions hurting or helping Iranian leader Ali Khamenei?

EU court strikes down Iran sanctions

The EU second-highest court has deleted sanctions on seven Iranian firms and one man accused of collusion to make nuclear weapons.

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Column

EU's Gaza policy: boon for dictators, bad for democrats

While they woo dictators and autocrats, EU policymakers are becoming ever more estranged from the world's democrats. The real tragedy is the erosion of one of Europe's key assets: its huge reserves of soft power, writes Shada Islam.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us