At Monday’s meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Slovakia extended the so-called EU Magnitines Act to include activities related to corruption.

The information was confirmed by the head of Slovak diplomacy Ivan Korčok after the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, who wants to submit this request – with the support of several other member states – to the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell and the French presidency of the EU Council.

Korčok reminded that the new EU sanctions regime makes it possible to impose sanctions on specific persons more quickly and to organize things in the world for serious human rights violations.

The Magnitsky Act was adopted by the European Union at the end of 2020. However, as Korčok added, when this human rights sanctions regime was adopted, several Euroblock countries called for it to be extended to include corruption-related crimes.

“The European Union does not have such a sanction regime,” the head of Slovak diplomacy pointed out. He added that the Union could be inspired by Canada, the USA and other countries in this regard. That is why they presented a similar initiative for the EU on Monday.

“We currently have the support of seven or eight countries. we approached Josep Borrel, the French Presidency, to see how such a sanctions regime could work in this way, “Korčok explained. He also clarified that the process is only in its infancy and nothing is decided. However, this is an initiative of Slovakia, which should be further addressed by the EU institutions.