Prime Minister Alexander De Croo proudly said that Belgium has frozen or blocked the most Russian assets in all of Europe. In total, Russia is being punished by our country for 249 billion euros. But what exactly does this mean and what impact does it have? Professor David Criekmans of the University of Antwerp believes that we should be careful: “The chance of solving the conflict to some extent is now much smaller”.
The Russian assets seized may be tangible or intangible. Now it is mainly about money that is in accounts and is blocked, says Professor Criekemans. “You can freeze assets, which is allowed under international law, but now we actually steal money and use that money for something else.” According to Criekemans, this violates property rights and we also undermine international law. “The committee is now saying: ‘It is a very exceptional situation, because it is war’, but they do not realize that this will be an additional obstacle to solving the conflict.”
“We are actually taking an advance on reparations”, continues Criekemans, “It sounds politically very nice to say: ‘We are rebuilding Ukraine with Russian money’, but we have to be very careful”. Criekmans refers to the First World War in which Germany had to pay many reparations to France. “The difference is that it was discussed on both sides. Now we are deciding for ourselves how much money we take from Russia.”
Dangerous game
“We always state that the legal and international rules are sacred, but we are now breaking them ourselves,” says Criekemans. According to him, Russia can now also accuse us of being no better in that area. “Russia also confiscated European assets such as aircraft of European companies and also shops and factories of Western brands.” Yet it remains a dangerous game for Criekmans to go along with it.
He also points to the impact of this decision on world politics. “Countries such as China and Saudi Arabia invest a lot in our region and that produces prosperity. But those countries can now fear that their assets will also disappear in the event of a conflict.” As a result, according to Criekmans, they will invest less in the long term. “You can have a utopian image, but the prosperity we derive from it cannot be underestimated”.
Is this going to hurt Russia a lot financially?
“It is a large amount and that will also hurt,” says Criekemans. “However, Russia is still quite strong economically at the moment. The country has hardly any debts, has had to print less money than Europe in recent years and uses its own prosperity fund”. With this fund they can continue to wage war, according to Criekemans, and also not lose much in terms of prosperity. “Although you should not forget that they are actually now waging war with the pensions of all Russians.”
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