Late concession by Belgium paved way for deal on using profits to buy ammo for Kyiv’s war effort.
The EU approved a plan to use the profits generated by investing frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.
Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday gave the go-ahead after Belgium signaled a climbdown on the way it treats tax revenue on the cash — the last major obstacle to deal.
The profits generated by investing Russia’s assets immobilized in Belgium— where a large part of the assets frozen in Europe are kept — are worth between €2.5 billion and €3 billion per year.
I’m not saying that governments will necessarily take issue.
I’m just saying that that has to also get past publics and their representatives in legislatures.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to do – people have called this a “Marshall Plan 2.0”, and the original was – ultimately, though not as initially presented – both done and overwhelmingly grants. But my point is that if Russia isn’t actively-invading a country in Europe, I think that it’s gonna be harder to get the political momentum for funds than if Russia is doing so.
And we’re not talking pocket change – it’s hundreds of billions. Russia’s frozen funds are already in the hundreds-of-billions, so that’s a significant chunk of that covered already.
I’d rather have the more-difficult-to-raise-money-for things have the easier-to-get money aimed at them.