A week before European leaders make a final decision on how the European Union will continue financial support for Ukraine, Bulgaria presented official reservations against the use of frozen Russian assets, dariknews.bg reported.
After months of legal debate, the European Commission proposed a mechanism for using these funds in the form of the so-called. “reparation loan“, aiming to provide long-term and predictable financing for Kiev.
However, the proposal is facing resistance and debates about the risk of creating a legal precedent, NOVA reports.
Bulgaria is among the few member states, along with Belgium, Italy and Malta, that object to the plan in its current form. The four countries emphasize that any decision must be in full compliance with EU and international law.
A significant part of the frozen Russian assets are stored in the Belgian depository Euroclear.
According to the European Commission, the use of these assets, or the proceeds from them, would avoid a direct increase in national budget contributions. Critics of the plan, however, warn that such an approach could lead to litigation and undermine confidence in the European financial system.
Bulgaria and the other 3 countries insist that discussions continue and that alternative mechanisms for reliable and predictable financial support for Ukraine be considered, which would minimize legal and institutional risks.
As FAKTI already wrote, on Friday the EU froze Russian assets in Europe indefinitely to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, whose governments are friendly to Moscow, will not be able to prevent billions of euros worth of funds from being used to support Ukraine. The news was spread by world agencies and BTA,
Through a special procedure intended for application in extraordinary economic circumstances, the EU has blocked the assets until Russia abandons its war in Ukraine and compensates Kiev for the serious damage caused over the past almost four years.
Until now, all 27 member states had to vote unanimously every six months to continue freezing Russian assets, DPA reports.
European Council President Antonio Costa said that European leaders had committed in October to “keep Russian assets frozen until Russia ends its aggressive war against Ukraine and compensates that country for the damage it has caused. Today we have fulfilled this commitment“.
“The EU has just decided to freeze Russian assets indefinitely. This ensures that up to 210 billion euros worth of Russian funds will remain in the EU unless Russia fully pays reparations to Ukraine for the damage it has caused. We continue to increase pressure on Russia until it takes the negotiations seriously. The European Council meeting next week will be crucial to securing Ukraine's financial needs in the years to come," he wrote in "Express." European foreign policy chief Kaia Kalas.
It is a key step that will allow EU leaders to decide at a summit next week how to use tens of billions of euros worth of Russian central bank assets to guarantee a huge loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years, the AP notes.
The move would also prevent the frozen assets from being part of any talks to end the war without EU approval. A 28-point plan drawn up by US and Russian envoys called for the EU to unfreeze the assets for use by Ukraine, Russia and the United States. That plan, which emerged last month, was rejected by Ukraine and its backers in Europe.