EU leaders must take an important step towards confiscating €27 billion in profits made from frozen Russian state assets to transfer funds to Ukraine. This is reported by The Guardian with a link to EU officials.
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European Commission officials are prepared to put forward what they believe is a legally sound proposal that EU member states will consider, perhaps before the prime ministers meet in Brussels next Thursday, March 21.
About $300 billion, belonging to the Russian central bank were frozen in the West, mainly in foreign currency, gold and government bonds. About 70% of them are held in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, which stores the equivalent of $190 billion euros.
Deposits held in Europe are expected to generate between $15 billion and 20 billion euros in after-tax profits by the end of 2027 depending on changes in global interest rates, a senior EU official said.
Deposits are expected to rise this year will bring from 2 to 3 billion euros in profit, depending on potential changes in interest rates – money that can then go directly to Ukraine.
While EU officials hope for an agreement to confiscate proceeds from frozen Russian assets, they do not yet expect an agreement on how to use the money. Some states are against using it to finance the Ukrainian military, preferring to use the funds for reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
According to sources, the European Commission will not currently propose options for using this money.
“This means they could agree in principle to use the proceeds from the profits, but then have a further discussion about where that money could go according to the constitution for each EU member state,” one source said.
According to him, the process has gained momentum, and the EU expects that the matter will move forward after the decision is made.
Recall
The “Ministry of Finance” wrote that the countries The G7 (G7) released a statement on February 24 in which they confirmed that they would keep Russian assets frozen in their jurisdictions until Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine is completed.