Brussels is preparing its largest corporate blacklist since the invasion of Ukraine. The scale is dramatic, but Europe’s real problem is no longer identifying Russian enablers. It is enforcing the rules without granting exemptions when they become economically inconvenient.
The European Union is preparing to sanction more than 1,600 companies accused of supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, in what would be the largest number of businesses blacklisted in a single European sanctions package.
The companies reportedly generate more than $20 billion in combined annual revenue and employ over 265,000 people. If every EU member state approves the proposal, it would increase the number of entities sanctioned during the war by around 50%. Officials hope to secure agreement when foreign ministers meet in October.
The numbers are designed to impress, and they do.
But my view is that Europe should resist treating the length of a blacklist as evidence that the sanctions system is working.
The real test is not how many companies Brussels names. It is whether those companies are genuinely cut off from finance, technology, insurance, shipping and the European market—and whether member states enforce the restrictions when their own industries stand to lose.
