EU foreign chief calls for stronger international law, support for ICC

LONDON

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has called for renewed global commitment to international law and stronger backing for the International Criminal Court (ICC), warning that the world faces “a broad assault” on the international legal order.

Speaking at the College of Europe in Bruges, Kallas said international law “is not perfect and does not solve all problems, but without it, we would sink into an anarchy.”

Kallas praised signs of progress in international justice, noting that “international law has never been more developed, more codified, and more accessible.”

She cited the establishment of the "Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression" against Ukraine, the growing number of ICC member states—now 125, with Armenia and Ukraine recently joining—and a new UN Human Rights Council investigation into alleged human rights violations in Afghanistan.

'Broad assault against international legal order'

However, she also warned of serious challenges. “Eclipsing this positive news is a fifth observation, the dangerous paradox we face today,” she said. “A broad assault is going on against the international legal order, human rights, international norms, and the institutions we have established to enforce them.”

Kallas reaffirmed the EU’s “long and robust policy of support” for the ICC, quoting the EU Council’s position: “The EU’s policy on the ICC is to advance universal support for the court, ensure its independence and counter threats to its effective functioning.”

She acknowledged that one EU member state has announced its intention to withdraw from the ICC but stressed that “all member states are legally bound by the decisions that are adopted by the council, including the decision in support of the ICC.”

While all EU nations are members of the ICC, Hungary wants to leave the global body.

“At the highest level, we have made our stance known,” she said, recalling that European Council President Antonio Costa called the ICC “a cornerstone of international justice,” while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “reaffirmed the EU’s full support for the ICC and its officials.”

“In Brussels, we are currently looking at all available options, including specific mitigating measures for how we can make the support count for the ICC in its time of struggle,” Kallas added.

Addressing young people directly, Kallas urged them to “take an active stand in defense of international law in general and the ICC in particular,” to “develop the flow further,” and to “be creative, innovative, and responsive to new situations that arise.”