BRUSSELS, January 30. /TASS/. The European Commission (EC) welcomes the approval of the proposal on the transfer of revenues from reinvesting frozen Russian assets to a separate account for further transfer of these funds to the EU budget by European Union’s member-states, EC spokesman Christian Wigand said at a briefing.
"Yes, we welcome the agreement in principle reached by the EU countries on this proposal. Now we are waiting for a formal approval [by the EU Council] under this procedure. The purpose of this proposal is that revenues from reinvesting these assets are transferred to the EU budget and used for Ukraine. The European Commission is working on preparation of next steps. There is no exact deadline so far," Wigand said.
On January 29, permanent representatives of the EU countries tentatively agreed upon the proposal of the European Commission to use revenues from reinvesting frozen Russian sets for "reconstruction of Ukraine."
In December 2023, the EC put forward a directive to the EU Council, which stipulates a commitment as the first step in the process of seizing revenues from reinvesting Russian assets to deposit such revenues at a separate ban account. This money is anticipated to be liable to a European tax close to 100%. Tax revenues are planned to be remitted directly to the EU budget. This is to be the way of withdrawing funds for further use at the discretion of EC. This directive does not stipulate confiscation of Russian financial assets so far.
The EU froze about 200 bln euro worth sovereign Russian assets at the moment.