Seoul Gazette - France opposes seizing frozen Russian assets: minister

Tapping into more than 200 billion euros in Russian assets would help plug a massive gap in defence budgets as Europe rushes to play a fuller part in the defence of Ukraine against the Russian invasion as American support for Kyiv wavers under President Donald Trump.

But the proposal appears to be causing tension within Europe, with Britain a longstanding supporter of the measure but France much more reserved.

"France's position is that these Russian assets... belong notably to the Russian central bank," Finance Minister Eric Lombard told France Info radio.

He added that such funds cannot come from "assets that are captured" as this "would be contrary to international agreements that France and Europe have signed up to".

Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad told France 2 television that, while the seizure of the frozen assets was a "lever" that Europe possessed, he would be wary of using it.

"It still raises legal questions and questions of economic precedent, of the messages sent to investors," he said.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told parliament on Monday evening that billions of euros in income earned from the frozen Russian assets was already reaching Ukraine.

"But the pure and simple confiscation of these assets would represent too great a financial risk for the eurozone, for the European Central Bank, which would weaken member states at a time when they must be as strong as possible to support Ukraine," he said.

During a debate in the French National Assembly on Monday, several lawmakers including former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who now leads President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party, had backed the move.

EU countries are already using income earned from frozen Russian assets to help arm Ukraine and finance its post-war reconstruction, a windfall worth between 2.5 billion and three billion euros a year.

The British Guardian newspaper said Tuesday that the issue was causing "some tension" between the UK and France, which are currently leading European efforts to respond rapidly to Trump's abrupt change of policy on Ukraine.

Inside the European Union, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Poland have been the strongest supporters of seizing the assets and not just using the interest to secure loans for Ukraine, it said.

During his meeting at the White House with Trump last week, Macron himself came out against seizing the assets.

"You can take the proceeds of the frozen assets but you cannot take the assets themselves as this is not respecting international and we want to respect international law," Macron said.

Y.Ko--SG