"Ensure that Russian money must help Ukraine," the Czech proposal urges European institutions
At Wednesday's European People's Party congress, a resolution was adopted on the proposal of the Czech TOP 09 party, which wants to give EU member states the possibility to seize Russian assets through new European legislation and calls on them to find a way to use the frozen assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
"Today, the Czech Republic has succeeded in making a significant contribution to strengthening security in the EU. Together with the other members of the EPP, we agreed that Russia has huge assets in many EU countries, which it uses to spy and strengthen its influence in Europe. That is why I proposed a resolution at the ELS Assembly which, through the largest political group in the European Parliament, puts pressure on the European institutions and Member States to tackle the problem. It is a great success and a clear proof that TOP 09 is actively influencing European politics," says Ondřej Kolář from TOP 09, who is the author of the proposal.
The adopted resolution is a fundamental document that clearly states that the volume of Russian assets in the European Union is a security risk and the EU should come up with instruments to remove Russian assets.
"Actually, it concerns mainly Central and Eastern European countries, but the danger posed by Russian assets is perceived by almost everyone across Europe. Unfortunately, even after two years of war, there are countries that do not want to acknowledge that Russia is an aggressor and violates everything conceivable. The problem is that there is no single European framework on which Member States can rely for a solution. The Czech Republic is a typical example. My proposal to seize the real estate of states that pose a security risk has been around for a while, but the Foreign Minister does not really know what to do about it. A common European solution would also help ourselves," says the Czech MP Kolář.
The resolution must now be taken up by the European institutions. The Estonian members of the European People's Party (EPP), who submitted the resolution together with TOP 09, managed to negotiate support for the original Czech proposal.
The congress of the European People's Party is taking place on 6 and 7 March in Bucharest, Romania, and was the congress of the largest political group in the European Parliament. It has 178 MEPs, including five Czech MEPs, in its 705-strong body.
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