July 17 () –
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the countries of the European Union have frozen Russian assets amounting to 13.9 billion euros, the majority concentrated in Germany, France, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg, the European Commissioner has stated. of Justice, Didier Reynders, in an interview with Bloomberg, in which he lamented the lack of communication with other Member States when paralyzing the assets.
“There are six Member States that are doing the job,” he said. “We have a situation where some member states give us a lot of information, others give us information about very low amounts” and “it gets more complicated when certain countries don’t communicate,” she added.
In March, the EU created a new working group to improve coordination on these freezes. However, “sometimes we don’t get a response, even though we have this working group where everyone is present, or we get small amounts compared to the size of the country,” he said.
Reynders is seeking new EU rules that make it easier not only to freeze, but also to seize assets. To do so, there must be a link to a crime. “What I have now asked to consider is updating the existing rules to also include non-compliance with sanctions as an offence,” she said.
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