German-Polish battle to get hold of Russian assets

Published December 22, 2024 at 12:12 PM

Economy. Germany and Poland disagree on whether to confiscate Russian assets frozen in the EU, writes the Financial Times.

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According to the newspaper, there was bad weather between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Dudas when the latter suggested that Russian assets frozen in the EU should be confiscated.

– You don't understand how this will affect the stability of our financial markets, said an irritated Scholz and added:

– You don't even use euros.

At the meeting, Poland wanted to confiscate and use 260 billion euros in Russian assets for the war in Ukraine.

At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU froze almost 200 billion euros in gold and deposits in the Euroclear currency system, among other things. The return on the assets has been used to finance the war in Ukraine, but not the assets themselves.