EU sanctions policy for a geopolitical era

Kai Sauer is the Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Security Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Previously, he has worked as Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN in New York (2014-2019) and as Ambassador of Finland to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and ASEAN (2010-2014). Mr Sauer has also served as Director at the Unit for UN Affairs of the MFA, as Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary General, President Martti Ahtisaari in UNOSEK and as Director of the Unit for the Western Balkans of the MFA. He holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Tampere and a Doctorate of Humane Letters (h.c.), Northland College, Wisconsin.

Juha Jokela is the Programme Director of the European Union research programme at the FIIA. His current research interests include political implications of Brexit, differentiated integration (in EU’s external relations), and the EMU reforms. His previous projects and publications include political and security developments in the Arctic, EU’s role in the G20, EU’s Asia policy, Europeanization of foreign policy, and Finland’s EU policy. Previously he has worked in the EUISS as Senior Associated Analyst and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Advisor in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Research Fellow and Director of the Network for European Studies at the University of Helsinki. Dr Jokela holds a PhD from the University of Bristol (UK).

Clara Portela is a Senior Associate Analyst at the EUISS, having previously served as a professor of Political Science at the University of Valencia (Spain) and Singapore Management University (Singapore). Her research focuses on multilateral sanctions, arms control and disarmament, and EU foreign policy. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and an MA from the Free University of Berlin. Dr. Portela has been a Visiting Professor at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, the College of Europe, the University of Innsbruck, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at FIIA.

Birgitta Berg-Andersson is a Researcher at ETLA Economic Research. Her main position at present is as an economist in ETLA’s forecasting unit, specializing in foreign trade and the industrial sector. Her previous projects and publications include Estonian economy and European Integration, Evaluation of science and technology policies in the Baltic countries as well as industrial surveys and research on the growth of the firm. She holds a Licentiate’s degree in Economics from Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, where she has previously worked as a university teacher in economics.

Laura Solanko is Senior Advisor at the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT), currently responsible for Russian economic policies, banking sector developments and energy markets. Her current research is on empirical banking and on political economy, with ongoing research projects on political lending cycles in Russia and on the effects of sanctions on listed European firms. Her research has been published e.g. in Journal of Banking and Finance, Public Choice, Review of International Economics and Russian Journal of Money and Finance. She holds a PhD from the University of Helsinki.

Juha Rainne is Counsellor and Advisor to the Under-Secretary of State and to the Director-General of the Political Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Previously, he has worked at the Finnish Mission to NATO, the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU and the Embassy of Finland to Lebanon, where he also served as the Chargé d’Affaires of Finland to Syria. At the Foreign Ministry, he has previously worked at the Units for International Law, Russia and the Middle East. He holds an LL.M. from the University of Helsinki and has publications in the field of security policy and international law, such as the monograph “Legal Implications of NATO Membership”.