The European Commission is developing an urgent legal solution that should allay Belgium's concerns about the use of frozen russian assets to lend to Ukraine. This is reported by Politico.
Brussels is concerned that the sanctions mechanism, thanks to which EUR 140 billion of russian assets remain blocked in the EU, may not be extended - for example, due to a veto by Hungary or Slovakia. In such a case, Belgium, on whose territory most of these funds are stored, would be obliged to immediately return them to russia, including the part that will go to the "reparation loan" to Ukraine.
To eliminate this risk, the European Commission plans to apply Article 122 of the EU Treaty, which allows for qualified majority decision-making in situations requiring solidarity. Under this interpretation, lifting or extending the asset freeze would no longer require unanimity, meaning Hungary would lose its veto power.
One EU diplomat told Politico that the strategy was a way to "ensure Belgium's support."
EU lawyers also believe that Article 122 could allow the sanctions to be extended from the current six months to three years.
The European Commission will present the final version of the legal proposal on Wednesday.
Recall that the US is proposing that the EU return assets to russia after the war in Ukraine ends.
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