EU to formally adopt sanctions regime for chemical attacks on October 15

 The EU leaders will formally adopt a sanctions regime on chemical weapons at the Foreign Affairs Council that will take place in Luxembourg on October 15, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said on Sunday, Sputnik reports.

"A sanctions regime on chemical weapons, tabled by the UK and France in the wake of the Syria and Salisbury attacks, will be adopted formally tomorrow at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. This follows extensive lobbying efforts from the UK and close partners," the press release read.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will meet with his counterparts from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania in his official residence before going to Luxembourg, according to the press release.

"The Foreign Secretary will use this momentum to ensure specific individuals and entities responsible for the use and proliferation of chemical weapons across the world are listed under the new sanctions regime swiftly. He will also tell counterparts at the FAC that discussions on a new cyber-related sanctions regime must now be accelerated," the press release noted.

Hunt said as quoted in the press release that these new sanctions "are vital but they are not the end of the story.”

"For years there has been an international taboo on the use of chemical weapons but that is at risk now after Syria and Salisbury. We now need to redraw the red line that says that for anyone using these horrific weapons the price will always be too high," he stressed.