The EU Sanctions against Jacques Baud and the Crisis of Freedom of Expression - On the Fundamental Rights Problem of Individual Restrictions on Grounds of “Disinformation”

The EU Sanctions against Jacques Baud and the Crisis of Freedom of Expression - On the Fundamental Rights Problem of Individual Restrictions on Grounds of “Disinformation” Wegener, Bernhard Author aut Text xx# 2026 Verfassungsblog 2026-06-12 eng On 15 December 2025, the Council of the European Union placed (a further) twelve individuals and two entities on a sanctions list, intended to counter Russian “information manipulation and interference”. Among them is the Swiss military analyst, former colonel and long-serving UN and NATO official Jacques Baud. His assets are frozen, any financial or other economic support is prohibited, and he may neither enter nor leave EU territory. The supposedly “smart” sanctions directed against private “disinformers” are not only contrary to fundamental rights, but also foolish. They amplify the reach and impact of the very propaganda they seek to combat, while at the same time discrediting the Union itself. CC BY-SA 4.0 Wegener, Bernhard EU sanctions Freedom of Expression Russian War against Ukraine Sanctions 342 https://verfassungsblog.de/the-eu-sanctions-against-jacques-baud-and-the-crisis-of-freedom-of-expression/ Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH 10.59704/8584307817b6e14e 260612 10.59704/8584307817b6e14e Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.7 using MARC21slim2MODS3-7.xsl (Revision 1.140 20200717)