Non-Contractual Liability For EU Sanctions: Towards the Normalization of CFSP

In Case C-134/19 P Bank Refah Kargaran, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made an important pronouncement over its jurisdiction on Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), as it held that it can hear an action for damages allegedly suffered by a natural or legal person because of restrictive measures adopted under CFSP. This article reflects on this important development in the case law of the CJEU, by putting it in the context of what scholarship on the topic has referred to as the ‘normalization’ of CFSP. In addition, the article comments upon the potential significance of the decision in Bank Refah for the EU’s external posture. The decision, this article argues, recognizes the opportunity to seek damages stemming from CFSP acts – including decisions adopted under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), that is decisions establishing military operations of civilian missions, and, in those contexts, acts or conduct attributable to EU bodies.