Europe should toughen up and support seizing Russian assets

THE United States and Europe disagree over whether US$300 billion of blocked Russian central bank assets should be seized and transferred to Ukraine. The US is ready to do so. It’s time for Europe to toughen up and join the US.

The first question that arises is whether it’s legal to do so. Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery of France, said: “We don’t have the legal basis to seize the Russian assets now.” The European Central Bank has been on the same wavelength.

That stance is highly debatable. The American lawyer Lawrence Tribe and colleagues have written a comprehensive argument on why seizure is consistent with international law. Tribe’s work has been supported and reinforced by Bob Zoellick, Phillip Zelikow and Larry Summers, pre-eminent US thought leaders and former senior officials at the US Departments of State and Treasury.