Didier Reynders on May 25 in Brussels
Image: EPA
The amount of Russian assets frozen in the EU has risen sharply – Belgium alone has 50.5 billion euros frozen. Three weeks ago, the value in the entire EU was still 13.8 billion euros.
AEU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders put the sum of Russian assets frozen in all member states at 13.8 billion euros when their justice ministers met three weeks ago. The Belgian Liberal made it clear that there was still more to be gained. The ministers should follow the “good example” of the six states, which accounted for the bulk of this sum. He hopes, Reynders said, that more asset freezing procedures will be seen in the coming weeks. His own country, where Reynders was finance minister for twelve years, has now delivered: In Belgium alone, the sum of frozen values now amounts to 50.5 billion euros, as the newspaper “L’Écho” reported on Tuesday, citing the finance ministry. Real estate should not be included. Most recently, in mid-April, the ministry specified the sum at just 3.5 billion euros.
The Ministry of Finance attributed the strong increase to the last two sanctions packages from the European Union. It hinted that it wasn’t real estate, but gave no other details. With the two packages, a total of 119 people and 28 entities were additionally subject to punitive measures for supporting the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in one way or another. Among them are not only numerous oligarchs, but also relatives or straw men, to whom values had been transferred. Listed persons are no longer allowed to travel to the EU, their assets must be frozen. For companies and organizations, the measures are equivalent to a business ban; EU partners are “not allowed to provide them with any more funds”. According to EU information, a total of 1212 individuals and 108 companies have been listed so far.
