On October 14, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade approved a staggering €35 billion loan for Ukraine, which will be repaid using revenues derived from Russian assets. The webcast of the vote documented the decision, with Bernd Lange, the committee’s chairman, confirming the majority vote and absence of any amendments.
This proposal must first pass through the full European Parliament before seeking endorsement from the European Council to become effective. The €35 billion loan is intended as part of a broader G7 plan to distribute loans totaling $50 billion (€45 billion. Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economy, expressed optimism that other G7 countries could potentially allocate additional funds, allowing the European Commission to slightly reduce the €35 billion loan’s European component.
EU nations control a significant portion of the Bank of Russia’s sovereign assets, which were frozen in 2022 and amount to approximately €220 billion. The European Commission’s decision to expropriate proceeds from Russia’s sovereign assets is grounded in their January 2024 ruling that the revenues generated by reinvesting these frozen assets are not considered Russian property. However, most experts in Russia and around the world deem this presumption legally invalid.