French Prime Minister: Kiev may never be able to repay the EU loan
France’s foreign minister told reporters that Kiev may never be able to repay a proposed EU loan based on frozen Russian assets.
According to Isna, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barro said that Paris is now asking the G7 member couries to provide a financial guaraee for this unprecedeed action.
According to the Rashatoudi News channel, the statemes of this senior French diplomat were made while the European Union Commission is looking to issue a loan of 140 billion euros, which is guaraeed by the seized Russian state assets that are kept in the clearing house “Euroclear” in Belgium.
According to this plan, Ukraine will repay this loan only if it receives war compensation from Russia after the end of the conflict; A move that seems widely unlikely.
This plan was opposed by Belgium, which holds a major part of Russian assets in Euroclear. The coury asked all EU members to share the financial and legal risks of this action.
According to the French Foreign Minister, this coury has a series of requests related to the proposed loan. Russian assets used as collateral for loans should not be “confiscated” to avoid legal problems.
He also poied out that the member couries of the Group of Seven must provide guaraees for this loan along with the European Union couries “so that they, along with us, bear the financial risk associated with this loan.”
He added: “We are not completely sure that this loan will be repaid.”
The French Foreign Minister coinued, Paris also was this loan to be used for military affairs so that the French defense industry can be boosted.
The EU is also looking to guaraee guaraees for loans from other couries. Norway has refused to use its 1.8 trillion euro sovereign wealth fund as financial backing for the plan.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fitso, also said earlier this moh that his coury will not support this plan. The heads of EU member states failed to reach an agreeme on the confiscation of Russia’s frozen assets at the October summit, effectively postponing the final decision uil the European Council meeting in December.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that seizing frozen Russian assets and using them to finance Ukraine amous to theft, and that Brussels has no legal justification for doing so.
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