“Bart de Wever believes that it is impossible to simply take away Russian funds.”, — write: www.unian.ua
Bart de Wever believes that it is impossible to simply take away Russian funds.
Bart de Wever emphasized that the confiscation of the frozen assets of the Russian Federation would be an act of war / UNIAN collage, UNIAN photo, ua.depositphotos.comThe Prime Minister of Belgium, Bart de Wever, believes that the complete confiscation of state assets of the Russian Federation, immobilized within the European Union, will be an act of war.
Bart de Wever announced this during his speech at the Ukrainian Breakfast within the framework of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Belgian prime minister considers the topic of Russian state assets “very sensitive”.
“First of all, I want to say that Europe is obliged to finance Ukraine, and we have done it. Europe will never win the “beauty award” because of the way in which decisions are made. But, in the end, we have the result – 90 billion euros to finance Ukraine this year and next year,” said de Wever.
He reminded that it remains unnoticed that the European Union has decided to immobilize for an indefinite period the funds of the Russian Central Bank, which are kept in the Belgian depository of Euroclear. De Wever emphasized that these funds are “immobilized” and not “frozen”.
“This is a very important decision because of course you can’t just take someone’s money. We’re not at war with Russia. Europe is not at war with Russia. You can’t just confiscate money because it’s an act of war. And that shouldn’t be underestimated. That’s never happened in history. Immobilized money, even during World War II, has never been confiscated. It would be the first time in history if that happened, and it would have serious consequences for Europe and for confidence in the financial system and for the Eurozone,” the Belgian Prime Minister emphasized.
He stated that there are no free funds.
Also, according to him, some European countries are not pro-Ukrainian and may oppose the extension of sanctions, which may lead to the need to release Russian assets.
He clarified that Russian assets will be immobilized until the end of the war, and when there is a peace agreement, the topic of these assets will be on the agenda.
As de Wever emphasized, if at this moment he is still in office, he will use his vote so that every cent is used for the restoration of Ukraine.
“I would be very sad to see if one euro returned to Moscow,” he added.
Funding of Ukraine by the EU – more newsAs UNIAN reported, the European Union decided on the indefinite immobilization of Russian assets. This opened the way for a reparation loan for Ukraine.
In particular, in order to meet Ukraine’s urgent financial needs for 2026-2027, the EU decided to provide Ukraine with a loan of EUR 90 billion. However, the funds for this loan will not be taken directly from frozen Russian assets, but on the basis of borrowings on the capital markets, supported by budget reserves of the European Union.
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