The European Union is getting impatient and is planning to take some much needed steps.

June 12, 2008 ( BRUSSELS) — EU foreign ministers are expected to warn Sudan of possible EU sanctions if it fails to cooperate on war crimes but will stop short of the immediate action demanded by rights activists, diplomats said on Thursday.

…In March, the Slovenian EU presidency said the EU would back sanctions if Sudan failed to hand over to the ICC Ahmed Haroun, its former minister for humanitarian affairs, and former Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, in connection with suspected crimes against humanity in Darfur.

… Sudanese human rights lawyer Salih Mahmoud Osman told the same briefing the international community had done little more than “gently air complaints” in the face of Sudan’s “clear and explicit defiance of the ICC”.

While welcoming EU moves towards sanctions, Osman, winner of the EU’s top rights prize this year, said: “I am at a loss to explain the lack of decisive response from the European Union, a powerful group of nations that has repeatedly declared its strong support for the ICC.”

The EU should go ahead and walk the talk.