Late concession by Belgium paved way for deal on using profits to buy ammo for Kyiv’s war effort.
The EU approved a plan to use the profits generated by investing frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.
Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday gave the go-ahead after Belgium signaled a climbdown on the way it treats tax revenue on the cash — the last major obstacle to deal.
The profits generated by investing Russia’s assets immobilized in Belgium— where a large part of the assets frozen in Europe are kept — are worth between €2.5 billion and €3 billion per year.
I wish for more money but every bit counts.
Gotta start somewhere. Hopefully this opens up the floodgates.
It’s a very dangerous game to play as this signals that investing in the Western monetary system means that your money can be used as a political weapon at any time. It takes away all the credibility of our banking system. Not just for Russia but also for China etc.
That was also the reason that until now we only froze the Russian assets and didn’t seize them. And it seems like this is only a seize of yearly profits, not of the actual assets.
Not just for Russia but also for China etc
Good, everyone should know that Europe doesn’t fuck around with Countries that commit war crimes
Good one dude
Give them time. They have baggage and jumping too soon could be problematic.
Good pic choice for your reply.
It takes away all the credibility of our banking system.
Which is a win for China and BRICS
I mean, freezing, doing anything other then leaving it alone does that to some degree.
My bigger concern is that l’d rather Russia’s funds be used for reconstruction.
I think that it will be easier to get political support for weapons in grant form than for reconstruction. Ukraine’s going to need both.
You can donate too
Poetic justice, taste of your own medicine
It’s not their medicine. It is ouя medicine, the people’s medicine, that was robbed of us by some crooks, who put it in the hands of other crooks, who have been and continue taking our medicine from said crooks and yet they bully and humiliate us. And now what they did is they’ve put it in the hands of yet another crooks, who will bomb and murder us. But they’ll put most of it back in the pockets of the previous crooks, because that’s what crooks do.
Don’t be a crook. Be like me, be the unsung hero, and commit tax fraud. Steal government property, promote black markets, and share the medicine back to the community around you.
/s but not 100% /s
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday gave the go-ahead after Belgium signaled a climbdown on the way it treats tax revenue on the cash — the last major obstacle to deal.
“The money will serve to support #Ukraine‘s recovery and military defence in the context of the Russian aggression,” the Belgian government, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.
The initiative is separate from a wider-ranging push by the U.S. to confiscate the assets in their entirety to support Ukraine, a move that is being rejected by the biggest EU governments over fears about legal and financial-volatility repercussions.
The tax income amounted to €1.7 billion in 2024.This comes after the U.S. and several EU countries — led by Germany — heaped pressure on the Belgian government to hand over the cash to Ukraine, as POLITICO first reported.
In another last-minute concession, Belgium also reduced the fee that Euroclear will charge for handling the frozen assets to 0.3 percent — freeing up extra cash for Ukraine.
The latest text of the EU plan offered neutral countries, such as Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, the chance to opt-out from buying weapons — possibly securing their backing for the deal.
The original article contains 485 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
