They returned with all guns blazing in the same week that Donald Trump called European nations “decaying” and their leaders “weak”. The European Union made the audacious decision on Thursday to activate an emergency clause in the treaties in order to permanently immobilize the Russian Central Bank’s assets, which are valued at a staggering €210 billion throughout the union.
As a result, the EU has simultaneously strengthened its most powerful influence, resisted outside meddling, and shielded the funds from the Kremlin’s military apparatus. The customary sanctions regime, which requires a unanimous vote among member states to extend the funding every six months, has paralyzed them up until this point.
The process has grown more precarious even though all of the sanctions packages against Russia have been lifted thus far. Hungary threatened to block the extension twice earlier this year, putting ambassadors in a race against time to keep the limits that have been meticulously put together since February 2022 from completely collapsing.
When, months later, the European Commission proposed an ambitious plan to channel the Russian assets into a zero-interest reparations loan to Ukraine, the experience was painful and left a lasting impression on everyone.
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