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The European Commission said Friday that using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine remains an option but stressed that its current focus is determining Kyiv’s additional financing needs.
Asked about reports that the Commission had resumed work on options involving frozen Russian assets, spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said discussions were underway with Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund to assess the country’s fiscal situation.
“We need to establish the needs before we can potentially discuss ways of addressing it,” Ujvari told reporters at the Commission’s midday briefing.
Chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said EU leaders did not rule out using frozen Russian assets during discussions in December.
“We never said that it was off the table. It remains there as a tool,” she said.
However, Pinho stressed that the immediate priority was delivering previously agreed financial support to Ukraine.
Ujvari also confirmed that the Commission had received and was examining a letter from more than 100 European Parliament members proposing a different mechanism involving Russian assets held at Euroclear.
However, he said the Commission was currently “focused on establishing the facts” rather than considering specific mechanisms.
The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden called in late August for the EU to look again at using frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc failed to strike a deal last year on tapping roughly €200 billion ($230 billion) of Moscow’s funds after objections from Belgium, where the vast bulk of the assets are held.
EU countries instead resorted to another solution, providing Ukraine with a €90 billion loan from their own resources to help Kyiv plug budget holes and continue arming its military.
However, amid concerns that those funds may not last Kyiv for the two years they are intended to cover, the four EU members wrote to the bloc’s executive asking it to examine new ways to use the frozen assets.
“As each day passes, the cost of the war is rising as Russia’s relentless attacks continue unabated,” said the letter, seen by AFP.
“We believe now is the time to revert to the issue of how we can make further use of Russia’s immobilized assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” it added.
Belgium, where depository Euroclear holds most of the assets, previously demanded that other EU countries guarantee they would share any liabilities before it would consider using the assets.
However, its EU counterparts were unwilling to go as far as the Belgian government demanded.
“We are well aware that this question is complex, and that we must look for solutions that take legitimate interests into account,” the foreign ministers of the four countries wrote.
“As a next step, we therefore propose that the European Commission’s technical experts are invited to explore, in close consultation with member states, new options on how to use the immobilized assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” they added.
EU officials say there is little indication at the moment that the Belgian government has softened its stance.
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