According to Michel, it is “right and fair” to use frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine, FD says among others. He stresses that the plan must remain within the legal framework and intends to actively lobby leaders of European governments for this plan.
The European Commission has long been looking at ways to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. For example, commission chair Ursula von der Leyen announced in November last year that she wanted to “actively manage” the money.
Not that simple
But claiming money is easier said than done, thinks Van de Linden. “If it were that simple, we would have done it a long time ago. But we live under the rule of law and assets are temporarily frozen, there are rules for that. These are reversible and administrative measures.
It is unclear how Michel still thinks the money could be confiscated. “This topic comes up more often, he’ll have talked to a number of experts who may see opportunities to do that.”
A further difficulty here, according to Van de Linden, is the fact that different types of money have been frozen. ‘One type is money that has been voluntarily declared by business owners and the people themselves. The other type is money discovered as a result of a criminal investigation, for example.’
According to Van de Linden, the money that emerges as a result of a criminal investigation can be claimed. But the 300 billion euros mentioned by Michel belong to the first group and therefore cannot be confiscated just like that.
Terrorism
However, Russia has recently been officially designated by the European Parliament as a state sponsor of terrorism. This process could open doors, Van de Linden thinks. ‘Then you fall under many penal provisions and then you can reclaim the assets of the oligarchs. But this is also difficult because in this case the money cannot be claimed retroactively. To achieve this, this should be included in a subsequent sanctions package.’
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