MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The European Union has come to conclusion that it can’t legally confiscate frozen Russian assets worth about 200 euros, Bloomberg wrote on Wednesday referring to a document obtained by the agency.
According to the agency, an EU working party on the use of Russian reserves frozen under the bloc’s sanctions sees "no credible legal avenue allowing for the confiscation of frozen or immobilized assets on the sole basis of these assets being under EU restrictive measures,"
Instead the EU plans to focus on temporary use of these funds.
Beside that several major global banks are concerned that appropriating Russian assets could cause Moscow to retaliate against their remaining interests in the country, the agency wrote.
The EU is considering channeling windfall profits from the investments to Ukraine.
However, earlier the European Central Bank warned the European Commission that the withdrawal of profits from operations with frozen Russian assets could undermine confidence in the euro as a global currency and undermine global financial stability.
In this regard, the EU preferred to oblige companies that receive large profits from Russian investments to transfer a significant amount to the EU. EU officials explained to Bloomberg that such a decision would not affect the legal status of assets and financial stability.
Since last year, the European Commission has repeatedly stated that the existing European legislation does not allow the confiscation of foreign assets frozen as a result of unilateral EU restrictions and their transfer to another person or state. However, since the summer of last year, the European Commission has been working intensively to change European norms to make the confiscation of such funds legal.