Belgium has been resisting the bloc\u2019s plan to leverage the funds to back Ukraine loan, citing legal and financial risks<\/p>\n
The EU has pledged to spread the financial and legal risks of using Russia\u2019s frozen central-bank assets to fund the government in Kiev, Politico reported on Monday. Belgium, where most of the money is held, has rejected the plan without such guarantees.\u00a0
\nThe European Commission is seeking to issue a \u20ac140 billion ($160 billion) loan secured against the immobilized sovereign assets held at the Euroclear clearing house in Belgium. The scheme is based on the assumption that Moscow will eventually pay reparations to Ukraine, an outcome widely seen as unlikely. Russia has said it regards any use of its assets as \u201ctheft\u201d and has vowed a legal response.
\nAccording to Politico, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has circulated a memo to EU capitals spelling out how member states would share the risks with Belgium. The document says the bloc is prepared to cover potential legal and financial fallout even if disputes arise years later.
\nBelgium, which has a bilateral investment treaty with Russia dating back to 1989, has warned it could face lengthy and costly litigation if Moscow mounts a legal challenge. Von der Leyen said the guarantees would also cover obligations stemming from bilateral investment treaties.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Euroclear could sue EU to oppose seizure of Russian assets \u2013 CEO<\/p>\n
Around $200 billion of the roughly $300 billion in Russian sovereign reserves frozen by the West since 2022 are held at Euroclear. The clearinghouse has threatened to sue the EU if the bloc attempts to confiscate the assets.
\nThe memo reportedly also set out two fallback options should governments ultimately decide against using the Russian funds. Both alternatives would require the EU to pony up its own resources to support Kiev, thus shifting the burden onto European taxpayers.
\nEuropean Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis said last week that the bloc cannot continue providing loans to Ukraine in light of growing concerns over Kiev\u2019s ability to repay them.
\nThe Kremlin has warned that channeling Russian funds to Ukraine would \u201cboomerang,\u201d and threatened to target up to \u20ac200 billion in Western assets held in Russia in retaliation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Belgium has been resisting the bloc\u2019s plan to leverage the funds to back Ukraine loan, citing legal and financial risks The EU has pledged to spread the financial and legal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t