Belgium is ready to reconsider its position on Russian assets, but on one condition - FT
Kyiv • UNN
Belgium may agree to riskier strategies to increase profits from frozen Russian assets if legal risks are distributed among all EU member states. About 190 billion euros of Russian sovereign assets are held in the Belgian Euroclear depository.
Brussels hints that it may soften its categorical policy regarding frozen Russian assets and their transfer to Ukraine. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot stated that his country could agree to more risky financial strategies to increase profits from blocked funds if the associated risks are distributed among all member states. This is reported in the Financial Times, writes UNN.
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If new initiatives are introduced, their legal stability and collective risk pooling must be ensured
At the same time, he warned Brussels not to act too aggressively, comparing the situation to a "chicken that lays golden eggs."
Calls are growing louder in the EU to increase the financial return on frozen funds, including by reinvesting in riskier instruments or even through confiscation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that the Union must urgently find a "new solution for financing Ukraine's defense efforts" based on Russian assets, without touching the principal sums themselves.
After the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, the EU froze significant volumes of Russian sovereign assets. The largest part of them - about 190 billion euros - is stored in the Belgian depository Euroclear. The profit from these assets is already being used to service a G7 loan of 50 billion dollars directed to Ukraine.
Belgium has traditionally opposed confiscation, citing a lack of legal grounds and the risk of lawsuits, which, according to Prévot, could cost the country "the equivalent of its annual budget." He also warned that such actions could undermine the trust of other states in storing their reserves in Europe and negatively affect the stability of the euro.
For us, it is important to preserve these immobilized assets as leverage in peace negotiations and to ensure that in the future these significant sums will go to the reconstruction of Ukraine. But if we want the chicken to continue laying "golden eggs," it should not be killed
Belgium refuses to transfer blocked Russian funds to Ukraine - EuroNews9/5/25, 10:34 PM • 6162 views