BRUSSELS: European officials have great doubts about the positive outcome of the European Commission's (EC) decision to expropriate Russ...
BRUSSELS: European officials have great doubts about the positive outcome of the European Commission's (EC) decision to expropriate Russian assets, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper said, adding that Europe has exhausted legal tricks on that matter.
Even allies of EC President Ursula von der Leyen have stated that she is essentially exceeding her authority by proposing to use emergency measures to push through 210 bln euros in loans to Ukraine, according to the publication.
Critics claim von der Leyen is violating the bloc's laws. With one legal move, the EC offered a way to circumvent any veto threats from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, among others, and with it the principle of unanimity in accordance with the Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundation for the European Economic Community in 1957, the paper said.
In October, the European Commission proposed expropriating approximately 210 bln euros in Russian sovereign assets blocked in EU countries since February 2022 (185 bln euros of which are blocked in accounts at the Euroclear depository in Belgium) under the guise of a so-called reparations loan to finance Kiev's military and budgetary needs in 2026-2027. This solution was proposed due to the EU's lack of available funds to continue external financing for Ukraine. The European Commission claims that Ukraine will be required to return this money if it receives certain "reparations" from Russia, the amount of which European experts last year estimated at almost half a trillion euros. Even EU institutions themselves do not believe that Russia will make such payments to Ukraine.
This plan was blocked by Belgium at the EU summits on October 1 and 23. Belgium believes it will bear the brunt of Russia's retaliatory measures, as it is under its jurisdiction that Russia's main assets will be seized, and Belgium will be legally violating state guarantees for the inviolability of these assets. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever noted that this step is unprecedented, that no one had even dared to take it during World War II. Therefore, he demanded legal and financial guarantees from EU countries that they will fully share all of Belgium's risks.
Over the following month, the question of guarantees for Belgium remained unresolved, so it continues to oppose the expropriation of assets.
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