Internship report at the permanent representation of Portugal to the European Union

Abstract

This internship report was prepared based on the activities developed at REPER, the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union (EU), between October 2022 and April 2023, and closes the non-teaching part component of the mentioned Master’s in international and European Law. Among other foreign policy matters, the internship comprised mainly the monitoring of the Working Party of Foreign Relations Counsellors (RELEX) and, consequently, the issues related to the restrictive measures of the EU. Within the working party, a brand-new division, known as "Sanctions", was established in 2004, where its major responsibility was to exchange best practices, update common policies, and put them into practice to guarantee the efficient and consistent execution of EU sanctions regimes. The inter-institutional framework of REPER is also introduced, followed by a brief analysis of the institutional underpinning of the report, and a short historical review of the objects that are understood to bind the founding principles and values of the EU (relevant Treaties/Declarations), as well as the proposed objectives for its external action (European Neighborhood Policy /PO). Also, this internship report examines the impact of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and EU sanctions on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in conflict zones. While sanctions are designed to target individuals and entities responsible for conflict or human rights violations, they can also have unintended consequences for NGOs that provide essential services in these regions. This theme constitutes the central theoretical component of this report, being explored mainly through the ways in which sanctions can interfere with the work of NGOs and offers recommendations for mitigating their negative effects.