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More than 100 MEPs have called on European Union leaders to reopen talks on using Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine, as Kyiv flags a €23 billion shortfall in defence funding and EU countries remain reluctant to commit more money from their national budgets.
A letter sent on Wednesday and seen by Euronews argues that Moscow should pay for the damage caused by its war, backing a renewed push started by four EU countries at the end of August to unlock the immobilised assets.
The EU holds more than €200 billion in Russian assets, most of it in Belgium. The European Commission put forward a plan last December to convert them into a zero-interest loan to finance Ukraine’s defence against Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
But EU countries failed to agree to unlock the funds amid fears over the legal risks, and the plan fell apart at a leaders’ summit in Brussels.
Earlier this year, the bloc gave the final green light to a €90 billion support loan for Ukraine. Still, MEPs warn that it will not be enough, with the estimated cost of Russian destruction already exceeding €600 billion.
Lawmakers from the European People’s Party, Renew Europe, the Socialists and Democrats, the Greens/EFA, the European Conservatives and Reformists and The Left signed the letter, which was launched by liberal MEPs Karin Karlsbro, Nathalie Loiseau and Petras Auštrevičius.
It is addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis, European Council President António Costa and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The signatories are urging the European Commission to come forward with a new proposal to overcome the objections raised by some member states, in particular Belgium, which opposed the plan from the outset.
The Belgian government led by Prime Minister Bart De Wever feared being left exposed to Russian litigation since Belgium is the host of Euroclear, the assets’ main custodian. Other countries, including Italy, Bulgaria and Malta, also expressed concerns.
The MEPs’ letter suggests transferring the assets into a new EU instrument that would assume the legal obligations towards Russia’s central bank. This would provide financial support to Ukraine while maintaining economic pressure on Moscow.
“Russia should bear the financial consequences of its war of aggression,” reads the letter, in a blunt political message shared by most of the Parliament’s political groups.