French Parliament supports transfer of confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine

This was stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine by Julien Bayou, a member of the French National Assembly who co-authored the resolution on confiscation.

"What worries me is that we need to act in a coordinated manner. It's good to say that we need to strive for victory in Ukraine, for Ukraine to defeat Russia. But we need to be consistent. I support the confiscation of frozen Russian assets," he said.

At the same time, Bayou said that French President Emmanuel Macron is "ashamed of these retaliatory measures."

"Let's take this money and give it to Ukraine for military purposes and for the restoration of the country. In my opinion, this is the most concrete, the most immediate concrete support that we can provide. And I don't understand how you can say "no restrictions" and take such an ambiguous position," he said.

According to him, this is a problem for France as well, because the government has announced a €10 billion cut in budget spending on public services, education, healthcare, etc.

"So the population may not understand how you can cut 10 billion for public services and give three billion to Ukraine. The best explanation is investment. But also to make this measure easier for taxpayers: we will confiscate these 200 billion, and this will help much more than when or if French taxpayers could do it," the MP said.

Bayou said that in order for France to be fully trusted, it must confiscate Russian assets, and Europe must do the same.

"And this position is very, very widely shared. We have about 150 deputies, more than 25% of the deputies in France, who support this, they have signed a resolution to seize this money. We want to vote, we want to take this bold step, but the president is holding back," the MP added.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 22/05/2024