MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Former Austrian Foreign Minister, head of the G.O.R.K.I. center at St. Petersburg State University Karin Kneissl has slammed the European Union’s decision on freezing Russian assets indefinitely as theft and a violation of its own norms.
"Yes, this goes without saying. This is outright theft or robbery. In this case, the European Union has ditched a number of its own rules and norms," she said in an interview with TASS in reply to the relevant question.
"Decisions within the councils of heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and finance ministers are made by consensus," she recalled. "There are areas in which decisions by majority vote are possible and are regulated at the supranational level, such as agriculture or competition issues. But certainly this procedure does not apply to such sensitive political issues. In this case, the European Union invoked Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which, to my recollection, allows for decisions by majority vote in exceptional situations. In doing so, Brussels has unwittingly brought to light serious macroeconomic problems."
According to Kneissl, this is a kind of an acknowledgement of weakness. "By invoking Article 122, the European Union effectively switched to decision-making by a majority vote. As a result, the positions of Hungary, Slovakia, and, to a certain extent, Belgium were essentially ignored, as the Belgian government was not enthusiastic about this decision," she noted.
Apart from that, such a decision sends one more signal - the one that not only European law but also customary international law is violated. "What is customary international law? It's the law of states, not explicitly codified anywhere, but which has evolved over centuries through the practice of mutual respect among states. This is about sovereign immunity. It has always been this way, so to speak. The EU has sent a signal to the world: we no longer respect the principle of state immunity, the rule that the assets of other states are inherently immune. It no longer matters - if we deem it necessary, we can feel free to expropriate them. This, frankly, is a very serious step," she added.