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submitted 6 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Late concession by Belgium paved way for deal on using profits to buy ammo for Kyiv’s war effort.

The EU approved a plan to use the profits generated by investing frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.

Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday gave the go-ahead after Belgium signaled a climbdown on the way it treats tax revenue on the cash — the last major obstacle to deal.

The profits generated by investing Russia’s assets immobilized in Belgium— where a large part of the assets frozen in Europe are kept — are worth between €2.5 billion and €3 billion per year.

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[-] Obonga@feddit.de 33 points 6 months ago

I wish for more money but every bit counts.

[-] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

Gotta start somewhere. Hopefully this opens up the floodgates.

[-] resetbypeer@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

Poetic justice, taste of your own medicine

[-] auzas_1337@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 months ago

Why do I keep reading the comments on shit like this?

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago

Do I dare to ask what you mean? Tankies?

[-] auzas_1337@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 months ago

Pretty much, yeah. It’s just sort of depressing seeing what people think(?) and then spend their time writing.

When it comes to Russia - Ukraine war, I think people outside of Russia’s doorstep have really weird, theorethical, warped perception of what it means and how it impacts the region.

It can probably be said about most wars, the people the closest to it are the most aware of the nuances, history and reprocussions of it, but since this is such a high profile, global system shaking war, a lot more people feel like pitching into the conversation and from what I see in the comments under articles like this, the people who decide to leave a comment either haven’t lived under authoritarian rule or haven’t lived in a post-authoritarian rule society.

I’m trying to choose my words carefully here because I don’t want to bash communism and make it seem inherently opressive, although I think there are better socialist alternatives to communism.

So what I mean is, I get bummed out when I see comments that feel completely detached from reality and I should just stop reading the comments under these threads.

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah, people who don't remember what communism actually did somehow hate reading about it, except some cherry picked slogans.

[-] autotldr 2 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday gave the go-ahead after Belgium signaled a climbdown on the way it treats tax revenue on the cash — the last major obstacle to deal.

“The money will serve to support #Ukraine‘s recovery and military defence in the context of the Russian aggression,” the Belgian government, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.

The initiative is separate from a wider-ranging push by the U.S. to confiscate the assets in their entirety to support Ukraine, a move that is being rejected by the biggest EU governments over fears about legal and financial-volatility repercussions.

The tax income amounted to €1.7 billion in 2024.This comes after the U.S. and several EU countries — led by Germany — heaped pressure on the Belgian government to hand over the cash to Ukraine, as POLITICO first reported.

In another last-minute concession, Belgium also reduced the fee that Euroclear will charge for handling the frozen assets to 0.3 percent — freeing up extra cash for Ukraine.

The latest text of the EU plan offered neutral countries, such as Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, the chance to opt-out from buying weapons — possibly securing their backing for the deal.


The original article contains 485 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
255 points (97.4% liked)

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