(Adnkronos) – With the European Union set to agree in principle on Thursday to make a 140 billion euro loan to Ukraine using Russian frozen assets, Italy urged the bloc to carefully check the legal validity of the plan before proceeding.
“Before going ahead with the plan to set up an EU loan to Ukraine based on frozen Russian assets, we need to verify if the appropriate legal basis exists,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani said.
Tajani was speaking on sidelines of the conservative, transnational European Peoples Party pre-summit in Brussels.
“Otherwise it would be better to exercise great caution, not least to avoid doing Moscow a favour,” Tajani underlined.
EU Council chief Antonio Costa said on Thursday that the EU will agree in principle to use Russian frozen assets to aid Kiev, despite a threat to block the plan made by Belgium, which holds the assets.
“In principle, I am not opposed to the plan, but in order to avoid making mistakes, we need to see if it is legal. We need to look into this issue in depth,” said Tajani.
“We must not make mistakes to the benefit of Russia.”
“In my view, we must study the question very carefully, possibly listening to the legal advisers of the European Council, Parliament and Commission,” Tajani continued.
“If we receive a positive response, we can go ahead,” Tajani said.
Arriving at an EU leaders summit with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, EU Council chief Antonio Costa said the bloc would make sure Kiev had enough funds for the next two years, with the technical details to be worked out later.
But Belgium’s premier Bart De Wever has laid out three demands for the use of the frozen Russian assets held in his country, including all EU members sharing risks associated with the plan and the costs of any legal action by Russia, also contributing financially if any assets had to be repaid.
Russian frozen assets held by other countries should be part of the loan scheme, according to De Wever.
