Portugal confident in approval of proposal to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine
The Minister of Foreign Affairs said today that the proposal to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine “has legs” and that it will be possible to reach an agreement at the European Council meeting.
“I think the issue of frozen Russian assets has legs,” said Paulo Rangel in statements to journalists in Brussels.
Within the framework of a ministerial meeting, the minister responsible for diplomacy considered that by the time of the European Council it will be possible to accommodate the “observations, not to say the concerns, of Belgium”, which is the European Union (EU) country that has the most Russian assets concentrated and, therefore, would be the country most affected by this decision.
“I think we will be able to reach an agreement,” argued Paulo Rangel, acknowledging the difficulty of the negotiations, but without considering a scenario like the one presented by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, this morning.
However, the minister said he is confident that it will be possible to provide guarantees to the countries “less comfortable” with this proposal presented two weeks ago by the European Commission and which can not only ensure the financing of Ukraine in 2026 and 2027, but also give breathing room to the accounts of EU countries.
This week may be “very important for Europe”, but it may also be a disappointment, argued the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Regarding the intention to move forward with the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU – it has been a candidate country since 2022 – Paulo Rangel said that Portugal supports an incentive in that direction, but rejected accession already in 2027.
