BRUSSELS — The European Commission is considering allowing Euroclear to tap frozen Russian assets to help shield the G7’s €45 billion loan to Ukraine against potential retaliation by Moscow.
EU officials are weighing the move as a last-resort solution to compensate Euroclear, the Belgium-based bank holding these assets, for losses incurred in Russia due to its compliance with Western sanctions, according to three officials familiar with the matter who spoke to POLITICO.
Proponents argue the measure would fortify* *a multilateral scheme, finalized last week, that allocates windfall profits generated from around €200 billion in frozen Russian assets to repay the G7’s long-negotiated loan to Ukraine.
Euroclear is currently embroiled in litigation with multiple sanctioned parties who are using Russia’s highly politicized courts to contest their assets being withheld, and seeking compensation.
While Russian courts have little power to force the handover of euro or dollar assets held in Belgium to those with successful claims, they do have the power to take retaliatory action against Euroclear balances held in Russian financial institutions. These belong mainly to Western financial institutions and businesses, who would then be eligible to raise their own compensatory claims against Euroclear.
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Perhaps it's time for Elon Musk to trade in his rockets and tweets for something a bit more, well, boring. After all, digging tunnels seems less likely to land him in hot water—or at least less likely to attract the attention of every regulatory agency with an acronym. With the FAA reportedly raising eyebrows over SpaceX activities and the SEC keeping tabs on his social media shenanigans, maybe subterranean ventures are the way to go.
The Boring Company might just be Musk's most grounded idea yet—literally. No satellites to launch, no cars to recall, and best of all, no character limits to consider before hitting "send." Just good old-fashioned dirt and a machine that goes "brrrr." Imagine the peace and quiet (well, except for the drilling sounds) of focusing on tunnels that could one day alleviate traffic woes—assuming they don't accidentally tap into a subway line.
And let's not forget, digging holes has a certain metaphorical elegance to it. If you're already in one, why not keep digging? It's a strategy that's worked so far, right? Plus, it's hard to get into legal trouble when you're underground—unless, of course, you accidentally tunnel into a vault or something. But hey, even then, it would make for an exciting twist in the ever-entertaining Musk saga.
So here's to hoping Elon swaps his Twitter tirades for tunnel trajectories. At least in the depths of the earth, there's no Wi-Fi to tempt him into late-night tweets that launch a thousand headlines. Maybe being boring isn't so bad after all.