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Green politician Göring-Eckhardt: “We should also look at the assets themselves”

Photo: picture alliance / dts agency

Confiscation instead of skimming off interest income: The Deputy President of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, has called for the confiscation of Russian state assets in the EU to be examined "with the aim" of "ultimately releasing the assets for Ukraine." In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (“FAS”), the Green Party also called for the German “Taurus” cruise missile to be delivered to Ukraine.

Since the beginning of Russia's major attack on Ukraine, Russian central bank assets worth 200 billion euros have been frozen in the EU. The member states took steps this week to at least pass on the proceeds from this - around three billion euros a year - to Ukraine. Göring-Eckardt wants to go far beyond that. “If the income has been released as a first step, we should also look at the assets themselves,” she told the “FAS”. The goal must be to give the entire 200 billion to Ukraine.

more on the subject

  • Interest income worth billions: EU states agree on a plan to use Russian money

  • Frozen reserves: Belgium wants to transfer income from Moscow's assets to Ukraine

The use of the income had already raised concerns from the European Central Bank (ECB), for example: other states and investors could lose confidence in the European financial center and withdraw assets from the EU. This could undermine confidence in the euro and destabilize global markets.

The deputy chairwoman of the Bundestag also took a decisive stance on arms deliveries to Ukraine: Göring-Eckardt demanded that the German “Taurus” cruise missile be made available. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has not yet been able to decide on this. To justify this, the Green Party recalled Germany's “special responsibility”. “German Nazis” were “responsible for massacres of people in Ukraine during World War II,” she told the newspaper. Today Germany “promised to do what we can. In my opinion, the delivery of the German Taurus cruise missile is one of them.

At the same time, Göring-Eckardt rejected recent statements by the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen. He said on ARD that at the end of the war in Ukraine “something like Minsk will emerge.” In the Minsk agreements after the first Russian attack, Ukraine had de facto given up part of its territory. Göring-Eckardt rejected such a solution. The Minsk agreements were “not a peace agreement, not a ceasefire.” They gave “the aggressor” what he had “illegally taken.”

“Putin then continued to attack, imprison, kidnap or repress innocent Ukrainians,” said the Bundestag Vice President. Any reference to Minsk demands “a continuation of the suffering” from Ukraine. That is “the opposite of peace and freedom. Peace must be just and must not call into question the existence and identity of Ukraine.”

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