Dear Members and friends of IIEA Brussels,
The IIEA Brussels Branch is delighted to invite you to join us for an event with David O’Sullivan on the subject of the G7+ sanctions and Russia’s economy.
This will be an in-person event on the Tuesday 6th of May, starting at 19.00 at the offices of the Irish Permanent Representation, Rue Froissard 50 ,1040 Brussels.
We kindly ask attendees to arrive by 18:30 in order to participate in the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will take place prior to the event.
Following the event we will have a wine reception, all very welcome to attend and we look forward to seeing you there.
This meeting is open to all IIEA Members--who will get priority for tickets booked in advance.
Description of the Event
Three years after the illegal and brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, David O’Sullivan, the EU Sanctions Envoy, will present the huge impact EU sanctions have had on Russia’s economy, and the work being done with G7 partners to engage with third countries that are not aligned with the EU sanctions policy.
The objective is to make it harder, slower, and more expensive for Russia to access so-called ‘battlefield items’—chips, flash memory cards, and other electronic components manufactured by G7+ companies, found in drones and military shells used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Since January 2023, the EU Sanctions Envoy has travelled to Türkiye, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia, Serbia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. More recently, he has also engaged with several countries used as ‘flag States’ by Russia’s shadow fleet, including Panama, Barbados, Tanzania, and Gabon.
This event offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from David O’Sullivan, who will share his insights on how the EU and its G7+ partners are shaping and enforcing the global sanctions regime. Drawing on his extensive diplomatic outreach, David O’Sullivan will provide an up-to-date and in-depth perspective on the strategic role of sanctions in the broader geopolitical landscape, the challenges of enforcement, and the importance of coordinated international action to counter sanctions circumvention.
Biography of the speaker
David O’Sullivan was appointed as the EU’s Sanctions Envoy in December 2022 and formally took up his role in January 2023.
Prior to this appointment, he served as Director General of the Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA), a leading Irish think tank. From 2019 to 2022, he worked as a Senior Counsellor at the Brussels office of the law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP.
From November 2014 to February 2019, David O’Sullivan served as Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the United States. Before that, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's diplomatic service. He has also held a number of senior positions within the European Commission, including:
- Director General for Trade (2005–2010)
- Secretary General of the European Commission (2000–2005)
- Chief of Staff to Commission President Romano Prodi (1999–2000)
Earlier in his career, he worked at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (1977–1979).
David O’Sullivan is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the College of Europe in Bruges, and holds Honorary Doctorates from both Trinity College Dublin and the Dublin Institute of Technology. He was awarded the EU Transatlantic Business Award by the American Chamber of Commerce in 2014. In 2019, he was made a Grand Officier de l’Ordre de Léopold by Belgium and awarded the Légion d’Honneur by France.
He is currently a member of the Governing Board of the European Policy Centre and of the Governing Board of the King Baudouin Foundation.
