LEuropean authorities could decide to step up a notch in terms of financial sanctions against Russia. Russian assets already frozen in the EU, as part of the set of sanctions imposed since the start of the war in Ukraine, could soon be confiscated, then made “available” for the reconstruction of the invaded country.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, is in favor of it, as he indicated on Thursday 5 May. He also considered that a donors’ conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine in which he is taking part in Warsaw should constitute the starting point of “a sort of European Marshall Plan” for this country invaded by Russia.
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“Personally, I am absolutely convinced that it is extremely important not only to freeze the assets, but also to make possible their confiscation, in order to make them available for the country which is rebuilding itself,” he told the Ukrainian news agency Interfax in an interview granted in Brussels. “This is the first time that the president has spoken about the ‘confiscation’ of Russian assets,” his spokesperson told AFP. US President Joe Biden asked Congress in late April to give him the ability to confiscate the assets of Russian oligarchs stranded in the United States to use for the benefit of Ukraine. Canada is on the same line.
Confiscating Russian assets, a feasible measure?
An opinion has been sought from the European Council’s legal service on the feasibility of such a measure, as “there are 27 legal systems in the EU and in many EU member states a decision by a court is necessary”. , explains Charles Michel. “It’s a difficult and long process,” he admits.
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A lawyer by training, the President of the European Council, representing the Heads of State and Government of the EU, is in Warsaw where he is taking part in a conference of donors for the reconstruction of Ukraine. “I see three priorities in this conference and three objectives. The first is humanitarian aid, the second is money, the third is reconstruction,” he explains. “This conference should be, in my opinion, the starting point for a kind of European Marshall Plan for Ukraine,” he argues. “It is important to ensure that the Ukrainian authorities will be able, in the days and weeks to come, to have the money they need to achieve” these three objectives, he pleads.
Charles Michel also comes out in favor of the idea of transferring 10% of IMF special drawing rights from member states to Ukraine. “We have to examine for which Member States this will be possible”, he specifies.