Judgmentsof the General Court in Cases T-489/23 | Mironovich Shor v Council and T-493/23 | Tauber v Council
Destabilisation of Moldova: the General Court upholds the restrictive measures taken against Mr Shor and Ms Tauber in respect of their role in organising violent demonstrations
The European Union adopted restrictive measures in response to actions destabilising Moldova, which have intensified since the beginning of the war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine and which threaten to hinder Moldova’s accession to the European Union.
Thus, in 2023, Mr Ilan Mironovich Shor, the former leader of the political party ?OR, and Ms Martina Tauber, the former deputy leader of that party, were included then, in 2024, maintained by the Council of the European Union on the lists of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures in view of the situation in Moldova. Their inclusion on those lists was based, in particular, on their role in organising violent anti-government demonstrations, which undermined or threatened the sovereignty and independence of Moldova, or democracy, the rule of law, stability or security in that State.
Mr Shor and Ms Tauber request that the General Court of the European Union annul those acts and award them financial compensation in respect of the non-material harm that they claim to have suffered as a result of the adoption of those acts.
By its judgments delivered today, the General Court dismisses the actions.
First of all, the General Court observes that the legal acts at issue come within the framework of the European Union’s common foreign and security policy (CFSP). Organising, directing or participating in violent demonstrations or other acts of violence can justify EU action in that field with a view to consolidating and supporting democracy and the rule of law in a third country.
Next, the General Court finds that, in 2022 and 2023, the ?OR Party, under the leadership of Mr Shor and Ms Tauber, organised violent demonstrations and gatherings, primarily in the capital Chi?in?u, with the cooperation of protestors selected, trained and paid by that party. In that context, the organisers’ intention was to involve in those protests certain individuals with a specific profile, capable of causing trouble and unrest at those demonstrations, with the aim of intimidating the government. Moreover, the violent demonstrations in question were organised in the interests and with the assistance of Russia, with the result that they are fully in line with actions to destabilise the Moldovan Government, to which the restrictive measures at issue are designed to respond.
Finally, the General Court observes that the dissolution of the ?OR Party is not sufficient, in itself, to render the restrictive measures taken against Mr Shor and Ms Tauber obsolete, since both remain capable of organising, directing or participating in violent demonstrations or other acts of violence in Moldova.