The European Commission will present a proposal on using immobilized Russian assets for supporting Ukraine before the summer break, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
"The Facility [a four-year support framework of $54.6 billion for Ukraine presented on June 20] will be financed in three ways: with grants from the EU budget; with loans raised on capital markets; and eventually with proceeds from the immobilized Russian assets. We will come with a proposal for these assets before the summer break," von der Leyen said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
EU banks were holding 24.1 billion euros' ($26.3 billion) worth of assets belonging to individuals and private entities, Wigand added.
EU member states have also reported having more than 200 billion euros' worth of Russian Central Bank assets frozen in their banks. The next European Council meeting will consider ways of physically working with the interest on the assets, according to the spokesperson. The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the European Union of stealing the assets.
In 2022, the European Parliament was in recess over the summer holidays from July 25 - August 21 and resumed its operation on August 22.