"European Union leaders agreed not to use frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine's defence in the ongoing war with Russia early on Friday. Instead, 90 billion euros ($106bn) will come from an interest-free loan provided by 23 out of the 27 EU member states. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were granted an exemption in order to allow the deal to pass following months of debate and knife-edge discussions on Thursday night."
"But Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had refused to sign off on this without ironclad guarantees that Belgium, where most of the Russian assets are held, would be protected from potential Russian legal retaliation. Belgium estimated it could be left owing billions of euros if Moscow successfully sued Euroclear a Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) provider in the Eurozone where the funds are held."
The European Union has frozen assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars across at least 31 countries. EU leaders declined to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine and instead secured a 90-billion-euro interest-free loan from 23 member states, with Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic exempted. Ukraine faces an estimated additional 136 billion euros in needs over two years to avoid near-term bankruptcy, prompting proposals to tap frozen Russian central bank assets. Belgium demanded guarantees against potential Russian legal retaliation because many assets are held by Euroclear, risking billions if sued.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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