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Poland's minister attacks EU on 21 March 2018
Summary
A look back at the day Poland's foreign minister accused Brussels of double standards, as sanctions on Russian nationals made news days earlier.
What did Warsaw want Brussels to hear on 21 March 2018? Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz accused the European Union of "double standards" and said it suffered from "a deficit of democracy".
The remarks came as Poland and the European Commission were engaged in disputes over migrant quotas and over a proposed reform of Poland's judiciary. Those two questions formed the backdrop to the minister's criticism.
Sanctions on Russian nationals
A few days earlier, on 15 March 2018, the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals. Twelve of them were among those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation. The measures were taken under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
That law imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, and works by preventing U.S. companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. The Senate passed it on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House had approved it 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it into law on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was "seriously flawed".
Two separate stories
The two developments were distinct. One concerned a dispute between a member state and EU institutions over migration and the judiciary. The other concerned American financial penalties on Russian nationals. Both were part of the international news picture in the days around 21 March 2018.
