Kyiv is calling on the European Union to reinvestigate the use of frozen Russian state assets to finance Ukraine’s war effort, urging Brussels to adopt a more creative approach. Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko stated that Ukraine hopes the EU will formally reopen the debate, suggesting that custodianship of the assets currently held in Belgium be transferred to the European Union.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with Europe Today, Marchenko emphasized the need for a broader coalition of nations to discuss the issue over the coming months. He acknowledged the possibility of the conflict persisting for another year, noting that Ukraine will require additional funding sources to meet its escalating financial needs.<\/p>\n
The proposal aligns with recent appeals from Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, and Spain, which have urged the European Commission to reconsider a previously abandoned plan to channel approximately \u20ac200 billion in immobilized assets into a “reparations loan” for Ukraine. The majority of these assets are held at the Euroclear depository in Belgium. However, Belgium has resisted the move, citing significant legal and financial risks associated with such an unprecedented measure.<\/p>\n
Marchenko explained that Kyiv\u2019s proposed solution involves moving the assets out of Euroclear\u2019s jurisdiction and into accounts operating under European authority. “It will help to settle everything and mitigate the risk,” he said, describing the transfer as a “totally different scenario.” While the idea of shifting custodianship has been discussed informally, it has not yet been officially explored by EU officials.<\/p>\n
The European Commission has thus far shown reluctance to revive the debate, maintaining that the \u20ac90 billion loan agreed upon by leaders last December should suffice to cover Kyiv\u2019s needs through the end of 2027. Despite this, Marchenko warned that the intensifying war has created a “totally different reality” for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“We expect a very hard winter,” Marchenko told Maria Tadeo. “Escalations mean that we should have the means to survive these escalations.”<\/p>\n
In related developments, the European Commission confirmed it is recovering funds linked to a scandal involving Estonia\u2019s former defence minister, Hanno Pevkur, who resigned after it was revealed that up to \u20ac70 million from the European Peace Facility was used to purchase artillery shells from companies with no prior track record in weapons production. The Commission stated that recovered funds would be redirected to support Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, EU affairs ministers are set to gather in Dublin to advance contentious negotiations on the bloc\u2019s next long-term budget, aiming to bridge the gap between fiscal conservatives and supporters of cohesion and agricultural funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kyiv proposes transferring custodianship of frozen Russian assets from Belgium to the EU to unlock funds for wartime needs as conflict intensifies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[133,62,104,913,195,34,914],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-finance","tag-frozen-assets","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}