FRANKFURT: Any European Union decision on using frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine must follow international law and the European Central Bank is “very attentive” to the process, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Monday.
The EU is searching for a way to finance Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction with some of the 210 billion euros worth of Russian sovereign assets immobilized in the West after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As outright confiscation would be illegal, the bloc’s political leadership is working on a plan to invest the Russian cash in zero-coupon bonds issued by the European Commission with guarantees from EU governments.
The EU would then use the cash to issue a “Reparations Loan” to Ukraine.
“We very much expect that any scheme that is discussed and eventually introduced at some point in time will be done in accordance with international rules, with international law,” Lagarde told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.
Lagarde is worried that a legally contentious move would damage the credibility of the euro and discourage investors from holding euro assets, potentially damaging financial stability.
“From my vantage point, and with in mind financial stability and the strength of the euro, we will be looking very attentively to make sure that what is proposed is in accordance with international law (and) is mindful of financial stability,” Lagarde said in a parliamentary hearing.
When the Russian assets were frozen at the outset of the war, the money was invested in bonds. Those bonds have now matured and the cash is stuck at the Euroclear central securities depository in Belgium.
Lagarde said any decision should be agreed by all the parties that hold Russian assets.
EU must follow law in using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Lagarde says
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EU must follow law in using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Lagarde says
- Lagarde says any decision should be agreed by all the parties that hold Russian assets
Riot at Greek migrant detention center leaves 2 police injured, 30 migrants arrested
- The facility where the unrest erupted was holding about 750 migrants of various nationalities
- Arrivals from Libya to Crete have surged in recent months
THESSALONIKI, Greece: A riot broke out late Wednesday at a migrant detention center in northern Greece, leaving two police officers injured and 30 migrants arrested, authorities said.
The facility where the unrest erupted was holding about 750 migrants of various nationalities, police said. Two officers were treated for injuries after being hit by a rock and bitten on the hand.
Greece this summer introduced one of Europe’s toughest migration regimes, allowing detention for up to 24 months and imposing prison terms of two to five years for illegal entry or stay. Under the stricter laws, migrants denied asylum face mandatory jail sentences.
Wednesday’s clashes came a day after three migrants died and 55 were rescued near the southern island of Crete when a boat carrying them from Libya sank. Two of the rescued migrants, both from Sudan, were arrested on smuggling charges.
Arrivals from Libya to Crete have surged in recent months. But Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said earlier Wednesday that overall migrant arrivals had dropped compared with a year earlier.
He defended Greece’s tough migration laws and voiced support for proposals backed by other European Union members to establish dedicated deportation centers.
