Due to its status, the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU) is not party to the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

 (ICC), but all the EU's member states are signatories and the EU has been one of the ICC's strongest supporters. The EU has given political, financial and technical support to the court, which is also based in its territory (The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

).

Positions and agreements

In 2001 the EU agreed a common position, that is it has an EU-wide agreed foreign policy

Common Foreign and Security Policy

The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...

 on the matter, strongly supporting the ICC. That position was updated in 2003 and combined with an action plan.

A 2006 co-operation agreement between the EU and ICC also obliges the EU and its members to assist the ICC, particularly by handing over classified information to the court. Examples of this cooperation already include supporting the ICC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 and Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...

, the latter including the EU Satellite Centre providing imagery and reports.

The Cotonou Agreement

Cotonou Agreement

The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States . It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, by 78 ACP countries and the then fifteen Member States of the European Union...

 which the EU has with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States includes a binding article signalling support of those states for the ICC and that they should "take steps towards ratifying and implementing the Rome Statute and related instruments". The EU has been inserting similar clauses in its association agreements

European Union Association Agreement

A European Union Association Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and a non-EU country that creates a framework for co-operation between them. Areas frequently covered by such agreements include the development of political, trade, social, cultural and security links...

 and trade agreements around the world.

Financial backing

All its member states have signed and ratified the Rome Statute (which established the court, having come into force in 2002) and hence, due to the lack of other major powers being members, the EU is now the largest financial contributor to the court (before the accession of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

in 2007, this was 75.6 %. Afterwards, still 57.4%). The EU also funds organisations promoting the court.

Diplomatic backing

The EU has been the strongest supporter of the ICC and has supported it in nearly every instance. In ways it has operated as a public relations branch of the ICC and encouraged states around the world to adopt the Rome Statute (including putting it in trade agreements, as mentioned above). Due to the difficulty of the court's work, and opposition from major powers such as the US, this support has been indispensable and, likewise, the EU has been using the ICC as a tool to make its presence felt.