The ambassadors of the member states of the European Union have reached an agreement on the first stage of a plan to allocate the revenues generated by frozen Russian assets to the reconstruction of Ukraine, announces Belgium, which holds the semi-annual presidency of the European Council, as reported by AFP.
This stage moves forward a lengthy and delicate debate on a legal point of view regarding the use of Russian state assets that were blocked by Western institutions immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. The European Union has frozen assets worth 200 billion euros belonging to the Central Bank of Russia, with approximately 90% of these funds managed by Euroclear – an international fund depository based in Belgium.The option of confiscating these funds and allocating them to Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts has been ruled out, as it was at risk of disrupting international markets and affecting the euro. Some countries, including Belgium, have proposed imposing a tax on the frozen funds, which could generate around three billion euros per year for Kiev. The European Commission (EC) has presented a cautious proposal to the 27, which involves having fund managers like Euroclear first separate the generated interest or profits and block them in a separate account. In a second stage, in order to allow Ukraine to benefit from these funds, the EC will present a new proposal on their confiscation and use. The EC justified this phased approach by the need to be extremely cautious against possible legal obstacles that may arise.The EU is coordinating with G7 member states on this issue, in order to reduce the risk of legal challenges to the maximum. The total cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction is estimated at around 411 billion dollars (380 billion euros), according to an estimate released in March 2023 by the World Bank, the European Commission, and the United Nations.”
