Member states step up opposition to EU seizing Russian funds – Politico
Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta have urged the EU to explore alternatives to seizing frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, Politico Europe reported on Friday, citing an internal document.
The European Commission hopes to pressure individual member states into approving the plan ahead of the European Council meeting on December 18-19. However, some members, including Belgium, which holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets, have warned that seizing the funds could undermine trust in the bloc’s financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose member states to legal risks.
According to Politico, the four countries said they “invite the Commission and the Council to continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law, with predictable parameters, presenting significantly fewer risks, to address Ukraine’s financial needs, based on an EU loan facility or bridge solutions.”
On Friday, the EU invoked its rarely used emergency powers to circumvent potential vetoes from Hungary and Slovakia and made the asset freeze indefinite. Although Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta supported the measure, they reportedly stressed that the “vote does not pre-empt in any circumstances the decision on the possible use of Russian immobilized assets, which needs to be taken at leaders’ level.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Friday’s vote unlawful and accused the Commission of “systematically raping European law.” Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico similarly condemned the move, arguing that “providing tens of billions of euros for military spending is prolonging the war” between Ukraine and Russia.
Russia has said that seizing its assets would be tantamount to theft and vowed to retaliate. On Friday, the Russian Central Bank initiated legal proceedings against Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds the bulk of Moscow’s foreign assets in Europe.
