Mechanism aims to ensure that assets are frozen until Russia pays war reparations to Ukraine
European Union countries approved this Thursday a legal mechanism to keep Russian assets in the bloc permanently frozen.
A statement from the Danish Presidency of the European Council, , states that Member States “agreed to a revised version of the proposal relating to Article 122 and approved the launch of a written procedure for a formal Council decision by tomorrow [sábado]around 5:00 pm”.
In practice, the mechanism gives emergency powers to the European Commission to keep assets frozen until Russia pays war reparations to Ukraine.
This measure, negative for the Kremlin, also almost prevents Hungary and Slovakia, owned by Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, respectively, from blocking any decision in favor of maintaining the freeze. The two countries, however, showed anger at the decision through one, in the case of Hungary, and one, António Costa, in the case of Fico.
The use of Russian assets is, however, far from reaching consensus due to one country, Belgium, where Euroclear, the financial depository that controls the vast majority of frozen Russian assets, is located.
This Wednesday, the Belgian government asked the European Union for an additional reserve of money to face the Kremlin’s threats regarding the 210 billion euro loan to Ukraine.
Belgium wants to set aside an undetermined amount of money to protect Euroclear from possible retaliation by Russia in court, announced this Friday. Prime Minister Bart de Wever’s government fears that Euroclear could lose a court case against Russia and leave the country alone to bear the legal and financial penalties.
The additional cash reserve should be financed, says Belgium, by the extraordinary profits that Euroclear obtains in interest from a deposit account at the European Central Bank, where the money sanctioned by the Kremlin is currently located and whose income will amount to 4 billion euros in 2024.
