2024-03-22 01:10:08
European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to “proceed” with a plan to use profits from the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to arm Ukraine, according to a joint statement.
This proposal, which is at the forefront of talks between European leaders in Brussels, will allow, if it receives the final green light, the annual release of about three billion euros ($3.3 billion) allocated to Kiev.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters: “I am happy that the leaders supported our proposal to use extraordinary revenues from frozen Russian assets. This will provide financing for Ukraine’s military equipment.”
The European Union froze about 200 billion euros of the assets of the Russian Central Bank as part of the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Most of the funds are held by the international securities depository company Euroclear, based in Belgium.
European Union countries have been discussing for months what to do with the assets, as the bloc’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, presented a plan on Wednesday to transfer the interests earned on them to Ukraine.
Under the EU plan, 90 percent of the money taken from profits would go to a fund used to cover the financing of arms purchases for Ukraine.
The remaining 10% will be transferred to the European Union budget, where it will be used to help increase Ukraine’s defense industrial capabilities.
The European Union’s efforts to provide more funds to Ukraine come at a time when a $60 billion support package from the United States, Kiev’s other main backer, is still stuck in Congress.
Dwindling arms supplies after two years of conflict have led to the retreat of Ukrainian forces on the front lines.
EU officials stressed that their plan is legally sound, because the profits earned by financial companies are not owned by Russia.
Grain exports.. “the next target”
On Thursday, the President of the European Commission proposed imposing customs duties on grain imported from Russia.
“We have prepared a proposal aimed at increasing customs tariffs on imports of grains, oilseeds and related products, both Russian and Belarusian,” Deer Leyen said at a press conference at the end of the first day of the EU Heads of State and Government Summit in Brussels. “This will prevent Russian grains from destabilizing the market.” Europe for these products.
The President of the Commission stressed that this measure will deprive Russia of the revenues from these exports and “will ensure that illegal exports of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia do not enter the European Union market.”
The proposal comes amid angry protests by farmers across Europe.
The proposal must be ratified by a qualified majority of member states, that is, at least 15 countries representing 65 percent of the European Union population.
Under World Trade Organization rules, Russian agricultural products have so far been exempt from EU tariffs.
Within the framework of the various packages of sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Europeans were careful not to target the agricultural sector or fertilizers. They feared they would destabilize the world’s grain trade and undermine the food security of countries in Asia and Africa that depend heavily on Russian agricultural power.
But this openness to Russian imports upsets Kiev.
“We note, unfortunately, that Russia’s access to the European agricultural market remains unlimited,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, during a video conference with the 27 member states.
“When Ukrainian grain is thrown on the roads (by disgruntled Polish farmers), Russian and Belarusian products continue to be transported to Europe… This is unfair,” he added.
The Czech Republic, Poland and the three Baltic countries are calling for a complete ban on grain imports from Russia and Belarus.
“We consider it necessary to fulfill our moral obligation to prevent any activity that could strengthen” Russia, the agricultural ministers of the five countries said this week.
Last month, Latvia banned the import of food products from Russia and Belarus.
According to those five countries, the European Union imported 1.53 million tons of grain from Russia worth 437.5 million euros in 2023, levels that are at least ten times lower than the quantities imported from Ukraine, which represents a small share of European Union consumption.
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