EU expected to lock up Russia’s assets held in Europe
The European Union is expected to lock down Russia’s assets in Europe until it gives up its war in Ukraine and compensates its neighbor for the heavy damage it has inflicted on its neighbor for nearly four years.
The move is a significant step that will allow EU leaders at next week’s summit to work out how they can use tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets for a massive loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs for the next two years.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe, accused the European Commission, which prepared the decision, of “systematically encroaching on European law”.
A total of 210 billion euros ($370 billion) of Russian assets were frozen in Europe.
The vast majority of the funds (about 193 billion euros as of the end of September) are held at Euroclear, a Belgian financial clearing house.
The money was frozen as part of the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia over the war it started on February 24, 2022, but for this to happen, these sanctions must be renewed every six months and approved by all 27 member states.
Hungary and Slovakia oppose further support to Ukraine.
The decision, expected on Friday and based on EU treaty rules that allow the bloc to protect its economic interests in certain emergencies, would prevent impeding the implementation of sanctions and facilitate the use of assets.
Orban said on social media that this meant “the end of the rule of law in the European Union and European leaders putting themselves above the rules.”
“The European Commission is systematically violating European law. It is doing this to continue the war in Ukraine; this war is clearly unwinnable.”
He said Hungary would “do everything in its power to restore legal order.”
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, in his letter to European Council President Antonio Costa, who will chair the summit that will start on December 18, said that he would not support any step that would “involve covering Ukraine’s military expenses in the coming years.”
He warned that “the use of frozen Russian assets could directly jeopardize the peace efforts of the United States, which directly relies on the use of these resources for the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
But the commission argues that the war imposes heavy costs by raising energy prices and hindering economic growth in the EU, which has provided nearly 200 billion euros in support to Ukraine.
