Macron Opposes Seizure Of Frozen Russian Assets, Cites “Respect” For International Law

Amid mounting speculation that Europe can fund at least part of its gargantuan fiscal commitments with seized Russian assets, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a Sept 21 interview with CBS News that confiscating frozen Russian assets would constitute a violation of international law. 

Recall that at the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, G7 countries froze approximately $300 billion in Russian central bank assets, with about two-thirds held by the Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear. At the same time, Russia was kicked out of the global dollar cross-border payments network, SWIFT. The decision to weaponize fiat currencies sparked a historic meltup in gold and led to the disconnect of gold with such traditional drivers of the price as real yields. 

In any case, European governments and G7 allies have been exploring ways to generate revenue from these immobilized funds without outright seizing them, which would have legal and political ramifications.

But Macron, already facing a political crisis at home, has put a lid on these discussions. 

“You cannot seize these assets from the (Russian) Central Bank even in such a situation. And I think it’s a matter of credibility, and it’s very important that our countries remain… and do respect the international laws,” Macron said, clearly unaware where the price of gold has gone in the past 3 years and that it is now far too late to worry about “credibility.”

“So we will respect international law. We are predictable, and we will not do all impossible things with these frozen assets.”

Brussels has been reluctant to confiscate assets outright due to potential fiscal and legal pitfalls. Instead, it uses the profits generated by the assets to fund Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction via the $50 billion G7 loan and a separate EU program. In recent months, there have been mounting calls for the EU to pursue more radical ways of using the profits for Ukraine’s benefit, such as through riskier investments.

Earlier in September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU could provide Ukraine with a reparations loan funded by cash balances associated with the frozen Russian assets.