At the moment, it seems that the European Union has found a way to direct frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, which has been affected by the war, said Inese Vaidere (New Unity), a Member of the European Parliament, in an interview with LTV's "Morning Panorama" on Monday, LETA reports.
According to the politician, work is currently underway on a solution under which about 160 billion euros from frozen funds will be provided to Ukraine as a loan, which should eventually be covered by Russian reparations that Moscow will be obliged to pay after the end of the war.
Currently, the main problem with approving such a solution is that the frozen assets are located in one country — Belgium, which seeks to achieve a mechanism whereby all responsibility in the event of possible lawsuits does not fall solely on it.
According to Vaidere, this and similar cases confirm that Europe demonstrates unity on critically important issues, and solutions are being found.
As previously reported, at an informal summit of EU leaders held in early October in Copenhagen, no progress was made in negotiations regarding the possible use of frozen Russian assets in Europe amounting to 140 billion euros to assist Ukraine.
Belgium demanded that the risks be shared among all EU countries and that a legal protection mechanism be ensured in case of claims from Moscow. France and Luxembourg also expressed concern about the legal consequences. The other leaders generally supported the idea of using the funds but tasked the European Commission with developing the legal and financial details of the plan to revisit the issue at one of the upcoming EU summits.
