European Commission prepares to approve plan to use frozen Russian assets in December – Bloomberg

On 12 December, the European Commission is going to publish the final draft of a plan on ways that it will use the Russian assets frozen in the EU for the benefit of Ukraine. Source: European Pravda with reference to Bloomberg Details: The European Commission's plan envisages the introduction of a tax on excess profits from the use of frozen assets.

It will contain a caveat that the new tax will not affect "national taxes or other measures".

As Bloomberg recalls, the fate of the plan depends on the meeting of the European Commission with experts from the EU member states on 6 December, who should express concerns about the use of Russian assets. Some of them, such as Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Luxembourg, have previously opposed speeding up the process and called for a more gradual approach - for example, starting with a more informal document rather than a legislative proposal. Adoption of the plan by the European Commission on 12 December will allow EU leaders to consider it at a summit in Brussels later that week.

Background: In recent months, the European Union has been actively discussing how to implement the possibility of applying a tax on excess profits from Russian assets and directing these funds to the recovery of Ukraine. It is estimated that more than EUR200 billion of sanctioned Russian sovereign assets are frozen in the EU, with most of them in the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear. According to data from October, sanctioned Russian assets at Euroclear have brought in almost EUR3 billion in profits since they were frozen.

At the same time, Belgium has already announced that it has created a special fund to support Ukraine in the amount of EUR 1.7 billion, which is funded by the taxation of Russian assets frozen in the country.

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