said Virginjus Sinkevičius, the EU commissioner in charge of environmental affairs.
European countries recently signed off on a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine, but that money already appears insufficient to fill the country’s budget gap given that U.S. aid for Kyiv is being held up by Republican lawmakers.
Instead of appealing to EU taxpayers to fill the gap, which could embolden populists, the bloc should seize Russia’s frozen assets and start taxing Western companies that continue to operate in Russia despite sanctions, said Sinkevičius.
“I think it is very important to find sources of funding that would use as little as possible from the European taxpayer,” said the commissioner via telephone as he made his way to Kyiv, where he will be unveiling plans to prosecute crimes against the environment.
Despite pleas from several EU states including Lithuania, Sinkevičius’ home country, plans to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine are stuck.
Large EU states such as France and Germany have warned of adverse effects from confiscating Russian assets and using them to help Ukraine.
The original article contains 260 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 33%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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said Virginjus Sinkevičius, the EU commissioner in charge of environmental affairs.
European countries recently signed off on a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine, but that money already appears insufficient to fill the country’s budget gap given that U.S. aid for Kyiv is being held up by Republican lawmakers.
Instead of appealing to EU taxpayers to fill the gap, which could embolden populists, the bloc should seize Russia’s frozen assets and start taxing Western companies that continue to operate in Russia despite sanctions, said Sinkevičius.
“I think it is very important to find sources of funding that would use as little as possible from the European taxpayer,” said the commissioner via telephone as he made his way to Kyiv, where he will be unveiling plans to prosecute crimes against the environment.
Despite pleas from several EU states including Lithuania, Sinkevičius’ home country, plans to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine are stuck.
Large EU states such as France and Germany have warned of adverse effects from confiscating Russian assets and using them to help Ukraine.
The original article contains 260 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 33%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!