EU Economy Chief Open to Confiscating Frozen Russian Assets
The European Union should consider taking bolder steps such as confiscating frozen Russian central bank assets to compensate Ukraine, the bloc’s top economic official said, downplaying risk warnings from the European Central Bank.
The EU’s diplomatic service is conducting fresh assessments of the financial and economic risk of confiscating Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine, Bloomberg previously reported.
Euroclear Ltd., a Brussels-based clearing house, holds the largest tranche of Russia’s immobilized deposits, totaling €180 billion. Valerie Urbain, its chief executive officer, has warned that confiscating assets would be risky.
Several member states, including Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, and the ECB remain concerned that confiscation could breach the principle of a state’s immunity under international law and impact the euro as a reserve currency, as well as the euro area’s financial stability.
Bloomberg 20 December 2024
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