Overview
- EU lawmakers approved a resolution Thursday in Strasbourg urging the rapid launch of a Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine, passing it 446–63 with 52 abstentions.
- Belgium told the Council of Europe it will be a founding state and said it plans to take part from day one, arguing the tribunal is needed to ensure leaders who ordered the invasion face justice.
- The tribunal’s setup will run under a Council of Europe mechanism known as an Enlarged Partial Agreement, with the Netherlands committed to host the initial phase of operations.
- A Council of Europe ministerial meeting on May 14–15 is expected to confirm which countries are recognized as founders once they join the agreement by that date.
- The tribunal targets the decision to wage war itself, which the ICC cannot prosecute in this case because a UN Security Council referral was blocked by Russia’s veto.