Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria and Malta have reportedly warned the European Commission against using frozen assets to aid Ukraine
Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta have encouraged the EU to explore alternatives to seizing frozen Russian assets for funding Ukraine, Politico Europe reported on Friday, citing an internal document.
The European Commission aims to pressure individual member states into approving the plan prior to the European Council meeting on December 18-19. However, some members, including Belgium—where a significant portion of Russia’s frozen assets is held—have cautioned that seizing the funds could undermine trust in the bloc’s financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose member states to legal risks.
According to Politico, the four countries stated that they “invite the Commission and the Council to continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law, with foreseeable parameters, presenting notably fewer risks, to address Ukraine’s financial needs, based on an EU loan facility or bridge solutions.”
On Friday, the EU invoked its rarely-used emergency powers to bypass potential vetoes from Hungary and Slovakia and made the asset freeze indefinite. Although Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta supported the measure, they reportedly emphasized that the “vote does not pre-empt in any circumstances the decision on the possible use of Russian immobilized assets, which needs to be taken at leaders’ level.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban labeled Friday’s vote as unlawful and accused the Commission of “systematically violating European law.” Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico similarly condemned the move, arguing that “providing tens of billions of euros for military spending is prolonging the war” between Ukraine and Russia.
Russia has stated that seizing its assets would be equivalent to theft and vowed to retaliate. On Friday, the Russian Central Bank initiated legal proceedings against Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds the bulk of Moscow’s foreign assets in Europe.