“International law must be respected”: Macron opposed a reparations loan for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out against the reparations loan plan proposed by the European Commission.

He made this statement ahead of the EU summit in Copenhagen, Politico reports.

Macron said that confiscating frozen Russian assets and using them to support Ukraine risks undermining trust in European financial institutions and could scare off investors.

“When assets are frozen, international law must be respected. The Prime Minister of Belgium also reminded us of this,” the French president stressed.

The publication notes that in Copenhagen, EU leaders plan to discuss creative ways of financing a new loan for Ukraine. One option could be to fund the loan through new Eurobonds guaranteed by EU member states, instead of directly using the nearly €200 billion in Russian assets frozen after the invasion of Ukraine, most of which are held at the Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear.

According to Macron, raising cash on financial markets by issuing new debt obligations guaranteed by the EU and national budgets is “a very good thing,” compared with confiscating Russian assets.

As a reminder, the European Commission had proposed a new way to finance Ukraine — a reparations loan based on funds linked to frozen Russian assets.