Spain seeks legal path to tap frozen Russian assets for Ukraine
The Spanish government, hosting Monday's meeting of the so-called Big Five in Madrid, aims to accelerate the legal discussion on the use of frozen Russian assets, according to the Spanish daily "El Pais" on Monday.
According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government wants to use Monday's meeting of foreign ministers to "give momentum to the debate that has stalled at a dead end on the use of frozen Russian assets in the EU for further financing support for Ukraine" and to provide compensation for the losses incurred due to the Russian invasion.
Madrid believes the time has come to resume the legal debate to analyze the viability of this possibility, reads "El Pais".
The daily emphasized that this issue faces resistance in countries like France and Germany among others, because the profits from these assets are currently used to finance a loan for Ukraine worth 77.5 billion CAD, which was agreed upon last year within the G7 group.
The Big Five in Spain
On Monday, at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign ministers of Poland, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and also the United Kingdom, will meet. Present will also be the EU's chief diplomat Kaja Kallas and EU Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha will join the meeting via video conference.
The first meeting in the so-called Big Five format was organized on November 19, 2024, in Warsaw, with the next one on December 12 in Berlin. At the beginning of February, representatives of the Big Five countries also participated in a summit in Paris.
