Brussels is under pressure: EU asks Belgium to authorize use of Russian assets
- Open Media Ukraine
- Oct 8
- 1 min read
The European Union is stepping up pressure on Belgium to allow it to use frozen Russian assets to provide a reparations loan to Ukraine. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing sources, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the newspaper, €170 billion of the €194 billion of Russian assets held in the Belgian depository Euroclear have reached maturity and have been transferred to the category of cash balances. The EU wants to provide funds to Ukraine in tranches.
“For three years, Belgium has been claiming that Euroclear is a Belgian company, as well as the benefits from its activities. Now that it wants to share the risks, it claims that Euroclear is a European company,” the EU diplomat said.
Other senior EU diplomats believe that “the patience of Belgian officials is running out” and they may agree to the use of Russian assets.
On September 10, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévost said that Belgium would agree to the use of Russia’s frozen assets of about 200 billion euros, provided that the European Union shares the legal risks.
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