Overview
- The General Court in Luxembourg dismissed Hungary’s suit on Wednesday, ruling it lacked jurisdiction over Common Foreign and Security Policy matters and removing a major procedural barrier to using profits from frozen Russian central-bank assets.
- Lawmakers and 122 MEPs have pressed EU leaders to convert roughly €200–€210 billion of immobilised Russian assets or their annual profits into support for Ukraine’s defence, reconstruction, or compensation.
- European expert talks on September 10 raised a concrete idea to move custody of the assets out of Euroclear in Belgium and into an EU-level custodian so legal liability would rest with the bloc rather than a single member state.
- The Council of Europe’s PACE legal committee has proposed a parallel route using ECHR rulings and a Council-managed funding mechanism to channel frozen assets toward reparations, creating overlapping legal tracks with the EU plan.
- Belgium’s past refusal to back an EU deal over legal-risk fears and Russia’s warnings of legal and market retaliation mean Brussels must still agree on the legal basis, governance, and liability-sharing before the Commission can table formal legislation.