50 billion euros of this in Belgium alone.
Brussels. The European Union has so far seized Russian assets worth 68 billion euros. This is reported by the online newspaper “Politico”, citing an internal calculation by the European Commission. The lion’s share of this is in Belgium, where around 50 billion euros in assets have been frozen. It is followed by Luxembourg with 5.5 billion euros. These two countries plus Italy, Ireland, Germany, France and Austria together make up more than 90 percent of the amount.
However, the Union does not know what proportion of Russia’s currency reserves are frozen in the EU. The Commission document quotes the estimated figure of €33.8 billion, but adds that this amount is “currently under review, so will not be quoted”.
Since the escalation of the war of annihilation against Ukraine on February 24, the Union has adopted eight sanctions packages. As soon as the Council agrees to a corresponding proposal and makes circumvention of sanctions a criminal offense to be punished across the EU, these assets could also be confiscated and realized after a court ruling. (GO)