If Hungary vetoes the extension of sanctions against Russia, the European Union will turn to national laws, the Financial Times writes, citing sources.
About 190 billion euros of frozen Russian assets are stored in the Belgian depository Euroclear. Without sanctions, the company would have no legal basis to continue holding the assets and "the money would be in Russia the next day", an unnamed official told the newspaper.
A Belgian decree dating back to World War II allows the king to block assets from leaving the country. This would allow the veto to be bypassed at the individual country level.
King Philippe’s office declined to say whether the issue had been discussed with him. The royal palace noted that while such a decree would have to be signed by the monarch, the responsibility for it would lie with the government.
However, Belgium and other EU countries are hopeful that they can reach an agreement with Budapest to extend sanctions against Russia. One of the FT sources noted that if Brussels used the 1944 decree, it would violate a bilateral investment treaty between Russia and Belgium.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in December that he could block the extension of EU sanctions against Russia, which expire on January 31. His decision will depend on what the US does when Donald Trump takes office again.
"We will refrain from making a decision until we understand how the US administration sees the future of the sanctions," said János Boka, Hungary's EU minister.
To extend the sanctions for another six months, all EU countries must approve this decision.
The EU has approved 15 packages of sanctions against Moscow since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and is working on a 16th set of measures.
The sanctions to be renewed concern various economic sectors and the freezing of assets of the Russian Central Bank.