{"id":312827,"date":"2025-12-12T22:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/312827\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T22:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:20:07","slug":"eu-to-freeze-e210bn-in-russian-assets-indefinitely-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/312827\/","title":{"rendered":"EU to freeze \u20ac210bn in Russian assets indefinitely | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia\u2019s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the keeper of most of the Kremlin\u2019s immobilised money.<\/p>\n

The decision by the EU to use emergency powers to immobilise \u20ac210bn (\u00a3185bn) of Russia\u2019s central bank\u2019s assets marks a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n

European Council president Ant\u00f3nio Costa confirmed on Friday that EU leaders had delivered on a commitment, made in October, to \u201ckeep Russian assets immobilised until Russia ends its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates for the damage caused\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before this step, EU sanctions underpinning the frozen assets needed to be renewed every six months \u2013 creating potential for a Kremlin-friendly government, such as Hungary, to veto the move.<\/p>\n

The decision came hours after Russia\u2019s central bank said it was filing a lawsuit against Euroclear, the Brussels central securities depository that holds these assets. The organisation, once a little-known part of international financial plumbing that is now in the spotlight, has no say on how the frozen funds are used.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, being filed in a Moscow court, claims Euroclear\u2019s \u201cillegal actions\u201d had caused \u201cdamage\u201d to the central bank\u2019s ability to manage funds and securities.<\/p>\n

Euroclear declined to comment, but a spokesperson said it was \u201ccurrently fighting more than 100 legal claims in Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, the European Commission proposed a \u20ac90bn (\u00a379bn) loan<\/a> for Ukraine, secured against Russian assets immobilised in the EU since its full-scale invasion. But the plan has been blocked by Belgium, which fears a cascade of lawsuits from Moscow and the seizure of Belgian assets in the country.<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s prime minister Bart De Wever met Keir Starmer in Downing Street<\/a> on Friday for long-planned talks on the EU-UK reset, migration and the Russian assets.<\/p>\n

De Wever\u2019s spokesperson said they had discussed \u201cthe possible use of the value of immobilised Russian sovereign assets\u201d and \u201cagreed to continue to work closely to make progress on this complex issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Downing Street spokesperson issued a near-identical statement, saying: \u201cIt was clear, they agreed, that keeping up the economic pressure on Russia and putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position would remain the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer held talks with his Belgian counterpart on Friday. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz\/Future Publishing\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The meeting comes ahead of an EU summit next week, when leaders have promised decisions on funding Ukraine in 2026-27, amid warnings that Kyiv will run out of money next spring to fund its defence and pay doctors and teachers.<\/p>\n

EU officials believe the proposed \u20ac90bn loan will meet two-thirds of Ukraine\u2019s financial needs for the next two years, and expect Kyiv\u2019s other \u201cinternational partners\u201d to provide the rest.<\/p>\n

The Belgian government says it must have guarantees from EU partners that it will not be on the hook for a multibillion-euro bill if it is sued by Russia.<\/p>\n

De Wever has previously described the proposal as \u201cfundamentally wrong\u201d and argued it would violate international law and endanger the stability of the euro currency.<\/p>\n

In a sign of tensions around the plan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Malta and Italy said only EU leaders should decide on use of the immobilised assets. In a statement announcing support for the emergency powers clause to freeze the funds indefinitely on Friday, they urged EU countries \u201cto continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Belgium argues the EU should borrow money on capital markets to fund Ukraine, secured against unallocated funds (headroom) in the EU budget. But many member states are loath to take out more common debt.<\/p>\n

Germany, usually a champion of economic orthodoxy, sees the frozen assets plan as the best option and has pledged to provide one-quarter (\u20ac50bn) of needed guarantees for Belgium.<\/p>\n

EU officials argue that the legal risk to Euroclear, and therefore Belgium, would be limited.<\/p>\n

Under the complex scheme, the EU would borrow cash from Euroclear, then loan the funds to Ukraine, while Russia remains the legal owner of the assets. Ukraine would only repay the money if and when it received reparations from Moscow for colossal damage inflicted during the war.<\/p>\n

The UK, which hosts \u20ac27bn (\u00a323bn) of frozen Russian assets, supports the idea and expects some, but not all, G7 countries to move forward with a similar plan, following a decision on the Euroclear-held assets. US participation in the scheme is less certain, although it holds only a modest \u20ac4bn (\u00a33.5bn) in immobilised assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia\u2019s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-312827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}