Three members of the European Parliament will travel to The Hague on Wednesday to meet representatives of the International Criminal Court, the 2026 winner of the Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The one-day visit by members of the Legal Affairs Committee is meant to show support for international justice, multilateralism and the rules-based international order, the Parliament said in a news release.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk, a Bulgarian lawmaker from the centrist Renew group who chairs the committee, will lead the delegation. He will be joined by Axel Voss, a German member of the center-right European People’s Party, and Lara Wolters, a Dutch member of the center-left Socialists and Democrats.
At the court, the lawmakers will discuss recent developments in international law amid growing attacks on multilateralism and international justice institutions. Two Parliament reports adopted this year, on the EU’s common foreign and security policy and on human rights and democracy worldwide, expressed deep concern over threats to the court and waves of sanctions imposed on it since 2025, notably by the United States.
“We will meet with the ICC to show our unwavering support for the Court’s mandate, the independence of its officials, and the international justice system,” Kyuchyuk said before the trip.
The delegation also will meet with the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law to discuss cooperation on civil, family, company and intellectual property law. And it will meet with the Dutch Whistleblowers Authority to talk about how the EU’s Whistleblower Protection Directive is working in practice.
The Legal Affairs Committee handles civil and commercial law, company, intellectual property and procedural law, and the interpretation and application of international law. It recently prepared an opinion on strengthening the international justice system and led Parliament’s negotiations on the whistleblower directive. It also helped negotiate an EU regulation on supporting vulnerable adults that builds on Hague Conference rules.
