Bloomberg: EU countries have advocated a “more gradual approach” to the use of Russian frozen assets

A number of EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, were wary of the European Commission's proposal, which called for speeding up the agreement on a plan on how to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Bloomberg reports this, citing sources.

According to them, at a closed meeting, key EU countries advocated a “more gradual approach” to the use of Russian assets. Thus, they proposed to first develop a document of a non-legislative nature, and then choose a legally sound formula for using income from assets so as not to create a threat to financial stability.

The European Commission, according to the agency, during the meeting insisted that a mechanism for the use of assets be presented in the coming weeks. In turn, the French government believes that the plan still needs to be finalized and expects progress by the end of the year. EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell is also wary of the accelerated work on presenting the proposal, Bloomberg’s interlocutors added.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in November in which, among other things, deputies called on European countries to quickly find legal ways to use frozen Russian assets for the restoration of Ukraine.

• After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western countries froze approximately half of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia - about $300 billion. Belgium, where a significant portion of the frozen assets are located (180 billion), announced in October that it would transfer 1.7 billion euros in taxes collected from income from Russian assets to Ukraine.