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EU Rushes to Freeze €210B Russian Assets Permanently to Stop Orban From Blocking Aid
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The European Union is preparing to fast-track legislation that would permanently freeze €210 billion in Russian assets, a move designed to neutralize a threatened veto from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, at next week’s EU summit, the Financial Times reported on December 10.
Officials familiar with the plan told the newspaper that the rapid push to adopt the measure—using emergency powers to override national objections—aims to protect Brussels’ leverage in Ukraine peace negotiations led by the United States.
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Diplomats steering the effort believe the best strategy is to separate the contentious asset freeze from the debate over issuing a loan to Kyiv using income generated by those assets, according to FT. Both Hungary and several other EU members are expected to oppose the move.
Last week, the European Commission proposed deploying €210 billion in frozen Russian state and central bank assets to finance a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, to be paid out over the next two years.
For that financing model to function, the assets must be held indefinitely—not in six-month renewable increments requiring unanimous approval from all 27 member states.
Hungary remains openly opposed to further support for Kyiv and has repeatedly threatened to veto the renewal of sanctions. EU officials fear Orban could act on that threat if a future Donald Trump administration unilaterally lifts US sanctions on Russia.
To mitigate that risk, the Commission has proposed invoking EU Treaty Article 122, emergency economic powers typically reserved for crises, enabling sanctions to be adopted by majority vote—effectively bypassing a single-nation veto.
EU leaders are expected to make a final decision on using frozen Russian assets for a “reparations loan” to Ukraine at the summit scheduled for December 18–19, FT reported.
Earlier, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, claimed that if the European Union proceeds with using Russia’s frozen assets to fund reparations for Ukraine, Moscow could consider this a legitimate reason to declare war.
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