The over \u20ac100 billion already spent could hit taxpayers and spark a political backlash across the bloc, the Hungarian PM has said<\/p>\n
The EU nations\u2019 leaders, who have spent more than \u20ac100 billion (over $118 billion) on Ukraine, now hope to confiscate frozen Russian assets in order to prevent the collapse of their governments, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
\nLast week, the EU temporarily immobilized roughly $230 billion in Russian central bank assets by invoking Article 122, an emergency treaty clause that allows approval by a qualified majority rather than unanimity. Moscow has condemned the freeze as illegal and called any use of the funds \u201ctheft,\u201d after European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen proposed using the money to back a loan to Ukraine.
\nSpeaking to the Patriota YouTube channel on Tuesday, Orban said EU leaders were \u201cchasing their money\u201d after spending heavily on the conflict and having previously assured voters it \u201cwon\u2019t cost them a single penny\u201d because support for Ukraine would be financed from Russian assets rather than taxpayers.
\nOrban said that if taxpayers end up footing the bill after all those promises, it could trigger an \u201cexplosive realization in Western Europe\u201d and the \u201cimmediate fall of several governments.\u201d
\nHe argued that EU leaders are now trying to secure financing \u201coutside taxpayers\u2019 pockets,\u201d pointing to frozen Russian assets as the target and warning of political trouble if Brussels fails to obtain them.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Moscow court to hear $230 billion lawsuit against Belgium\u2019s Euroclear<\/p>\n
Orban has previously accused EU officials of \u201craping European law in broad daylight,\u201d by invoking Article 122 to bypass his country\u2019s potential veto, and said Budapest would take the matter to the bloc\u2019s top court. He also noted that Washington opposes the confiscation and wants the issue handled as part of a broader settlement with Moscow.
\nRussia\u2019s central bank has filed a lawsuit against Belgium-based depositary Euroclear, which holds most of its assets. The EU insists that freezing the funds complies with international law, however, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has warned that using the money to back a loan to Kiev raises legal risks for the country.
\nInternational financial institutions, including the European Central Bank and the IMF, have also cautioned that using immobilized sovereign assets could undermine confidence in the euro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The over \u20ac100 billion already spent could hit taxpayers and spark a political backlash across the bloc, the Hungarian PM has said The EU nations\u2019 leaders, who have spent more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24472,"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-24471","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