“Even mass media are talking about extraterritorial measures, sovereignty, and standing up to the U.S.,” Delhpine O, a French lawmaker with President Macron’s En Marche party, said at a panel discussion Wednesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington. She added: “And all of a sudden this becomes something of national pride, which I’ve not seen … for a number of years. We have to be careful with this because it will probably become a matter of public opinion … of sovereignty, or pride, of standing up to protect our own interests.”
Those two countries are also party to the JCPOA, and have signaled their intention to remain in it. But working with them presents its own challenges: Europe, like the U.S., views China as an unfair trade partner; and Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria, where it is involved on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, make Moscow an unlikely ally. Yet German Chancellor Angela Merkel has visited Russia twice in the past month—visits that prompted Russian media to ask whether a thaw in relations was imminent. [...]
The most potentially significant response from Europe came Thursday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EC would work to enact a never-used statute that blocks European companies from complying with U.S. sanctions. That statute—the so-called blocking regulation—would make it illegal for European companies to comply with U.S. sanctions laws that have extraterritorial reach. But European officials have acknowledged that the blocking regulations have limited impact, and the U.S. reportedly is considering ways to ensure European compliance.
