Belgium proposes creating a "coalition of the willing" to keep Russian assets frozen
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevost said his country is ready to initiate an international coalition to keep Russian assets frozen, even if the EU is unable to extend sanctions this summer, he told Euractiv in an interview.
Currently, the Belgian financial institution Euroclear holds over 180 billion euros of Russian assets that the EU froze after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine.
The continuation of sanctions, including keeping Russian assets frozen, requires unanimous support from all 27 EU countries.
Diplomats expect that Hungary may again block the decision. In that case, Belgium is ready to offer an alternative.
"In this case, we definitely need to have alternatives to keep the assets frozen. This could be a new international framework initiative that would force these assets to remain in Euroclear, or another alternative would be a national initiative by the Belgian parliament." , – said Prevost.
At the same time, according to him, Belgium will not be able to act independently.
"We absolutely need to pool the risks. We absolutely need a mutual approach. Given the risk from both a legal and financial perspective, it is absolutely important to have a 'coalition of the willing' – this time on Russian assets." , – emphasized Prevost.
Prevost also added that it is first necessary to maintain the freezing of assets, and only then consider the possibility of using them to support Ukraine.
The simplest option remains the approval of the 17th EU sanctions package, but due to the position of individual states, it may be blocked.
- On May 2, Reuters wrote that the EU plans to transfer 3 billion euros of frozen Russian assets to Western investors.
- On May 9, it became known that Finland is proposing that the EU impose tariffs on all imports from Russia as an addition to sanctions.
