Some points form the article:
Frustrated EU countries are ramping up pressure on Belgium to release €140 billion of frozen Russian reserves held in Brussels by accusing Bart De Wever's government of failing to fully disclose what it does with the tax income from those immobilized assets.
Five diplomats from different European countries, however, complained that Belgium appears to have a secondary agenda in holding onto Russia's money thanks to the tax generated. They noted Belgium was breaking an international commitment — made last year — to disclose what it was doing with tax from the frozen reserves, which is supposed to go to Ukraine.
If Belgium continues to push back on sending the frozen funds to Kyiv, the diplomats said, EU member countries will increasingly use meetings in the run-up to the European Council summit to question whether Belgium is profiting from the tax income or delaying payments to Ukraine. They also query whether Belgium is using regular tax revenue to support Ukraine — as other European countries are — or is simply relying on tax from the Russian reserves.
"In light of this ongoing foot-dragging behavior, one wonders whether it has actually been understood that it's Europe’s security which is at stake here," a senior EU diplomat told POLITICO.
by No_Substance_99
17 comments
Belgium’s De Wever dials up opposition to Russian frozen assets deal: https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-vladimir-putin-assets-belgium-bart-de-wever-dials-up-opposition/
Oh sod off. Belgium’s the only one who’s transparent on the amount of frozen assets.
Plus the main thing Belgium’s asking is that other EU countries also pick up the bill if this things goes wrong. But surprise, surprise, they are not willing to.
Hate to agree with BDW but he’s right: that money is not ours to take. Who wants to put their money somewhere it can get confiscated? Will we do the same to Israeli assets because they are war criminals? UAE? Saudi Arabia? The United States of America?
Can’t we use the money to pay our national debt back?
“begroting op orde” !!!
Haha, they think they are still talking to De Croo.
Who needs enemies with allies like this. You’d almost think some of these so-called EU diplomats are just Russian kompromat actors creating chaos and turbulence.
EU willing to bring their whole financial system at risk for a few years of financial support for Ukraine.
They can fuck off. It’s all just posturing. If these allies gave a concrete gaurnetee that in the event of seizure and later legal issues, they would be prepared to pay up, then belgium would be more inclined to agree. But they won’t. They want us to pay all the money, take the risk and foot the bill, and suffer the damaged reputation if all back fires. I, too, hate BDW, but he is absolutely right on this point. Who needs enemies when we have friends like these…
this is typical de Wever shit and thank god the EU is talking about it. Sanction the state til it pays up tbh. the funds, from a moral standpoint have to go to Ukraine. Anything less is a pro Russia argument imo. Notably, N-VA seems to love posturing about the coming supposed hot war, but it refuses to take actual steps towards averting it.
Belgium asks one thing: clear european back up (Legaly binding) if things go wrong.
We speak here about 1/3 of our yearly GDP (+some real long terme weakening of our financial sector)
That’s a perfectly sane request.
If other countries want to use that money, they should face the potential consequences as well: if we have to give the money back, it has to be an european issue, not a belgian one.
Oh no, EU diplomats nobody knows, elected or ever heard from whatsoever are increasing “pressure” to get money from a country that ruthlessly taxes it minority population (working people) to support the majority.
Pretty sure they dont care m8.
Everything is built on trust and the first thing before credit is character. If we our country commit theft by seizing property under fancy names and labels we show our character to be untrustworthy and risk losing our credit along with it. Which means our economic system gets destroyed. Just look what happened in Zimbabwe in 2008 with hyperinflation.
Gelukkig dat de wever premier is, de croo had dat geld al lang overgeschreven en belgie in de miserie gestoken hebben over een paar jaar.
Belgium is perfectly transparent what they are doing with the tax.
Belgium is also perfectly transparent why they are prudent and demand guarantees when considering giving up the money at Euroclear.
If anyone needs a reminder: https://youtu.be/e8I8zquOguE
Blablabla. Those taxes go integrally to Ukraine, this has been said numerous times.
Why don’t they just turn on the money printer??
They did it in 2008-2010 to save the Banks who lost our(!) money… They did it with the Covid stimulus, which caused massive inflation. So why not now?! The future of the EU is at stake, as you said. So …
Just make the printer go Brrrrrr!!
Politico is about as neutral as Russia is in this war, and they’ve chosen a side which is reflected in their articles.
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