BRUSSELS: Belgium is proposing that other EU member states terminate all investment agreements with Russia as one of the conditions for its...
BRUSSELS: Belgium is proposing that other EU member states terminate all investment agreements with Russia as one of the conditions for its consent to the expropriation of frozen Russian assets within the "reparations loan" for Kiev, the Brussels-based Euractiv website reported, citing a document under discussion by EU ambassadors ahead of the December 18-19 summit.
"Belgium is demanding independent and autonomous guarantees from EU countries in return for its support for a floated loan to Ukraine using immobilized Russian assets. <…> Other key demands made by Belgium include that other EU states cover potential legal costs brought by Moscow against any member state; that EU capitals do not conclude new investment treaties with Russia, and abolish any current ones," the portal said, adding that the guarantees in question apply to "€210 billion in frozen assets."
The website notes that Belgium and Luxembourg signed an investment protection agreement with the USSR in 1989, which remains in force.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever called the European Commission's plans to expropriate €185 billion frozen at Euroclear in Belgium a theft. The kingdom fears Russian retaliatory measures and demands legally binding guarantees from all EU countries.
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Belgium Denis Gonchar said in an interview with TASS that the expropriation of Russian assets under any plan would be considered theft. The ambassador warned that Russia's retaliatory measures "will come immediately," forcing the West to "count its losses."
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