Stef Blok appointed National Coordinator for Sanctions Compliance and Enforcement
Today, former foreign minister Stef Blok was appointed National Coordinator for Sanctions Compliance and Enforcement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read the government’s letter to parliament (in Dutch) on this subject.
In this new position Mr Blok will be in charge of coordinating, implementing and supervising sanctions against Russia. This means streamlining the system for tracking down key Russian organisations and individuals on the European sanctions list. The National Coordinator is also responsible for ensuring that the relevant agencies are able to effectively enforce these sanctions.
Streamlining
The main task of the National Coordinator for Sanction Compliance and Enforcement is coordinating the various ministries and agencies concerned. To that end the National Coordinator will chair a central government-wide steering committee which brings together all these parties. The steering committee will be meeting today for the first time.
Additional officials
The various ministries and agencies will also provide additional staff, who will focus on implementing and enforcing the sanctions against Russia. These officials will start work today in a task force under the day-to-day leadership of the foreign ministry.
Minister
Stef Blok is no stranger to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was foreign minister from 2018 to 2022. In that capacity Mr Blok worked to achieve justice for victims of war crimes, holding Syria responsible, on behalf of the Netherlands, for serious human rights violations.