Europe has days, not months, to save the International Criminal Court from collapsing under US sanctions, a Dutch MEP has warned.  “We don’t have six months, we have six days, banks and services are leaving now,” said Dirk Gotink, from the centre-right European People’s Party, during a debate in the European Parliament.  Earlier this month, Washington announced sanctions against the ICC, based in The Hague, in an attempt to cripple what it considers a “rogue” institution. The US delayed the application of many of the new sanctions for six months, a move Brussels interpreted as providing space for dialogue.  The ICC has rejected the sanctions as an attack on an independent judicial institution mandated by 125 countries to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.  Gotink told MEPs on Tuesday that the most immediate risk was European companies pre-emptively cutting ties with the court to avoid exposure to US sanctions. “Over-compliance is at the moment a bigger risk for the ICC than the actual primary sanctions themselves, which is also the reason why we should limit exposure to US retaliation by moving part of the depositary activities of commercial banks now to central banks,” the Dutchman said. https://www.rapporteur.com/news/days-not-months-to-save-icc-warns-dutch-mep/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon