For European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her Brussels inner circle, the moment has come to a critical point. They are trying to distort and undermine EU law in an attempt to push forward a dubious legal argument - using Russian sovereign wealth funds to provide more money for the Ukrainian military.

Kyiv is already bankrupt, owes the EU about 45 billion euros, and will face a fiscal shortfall of 70 billion euros next year, while the front lines are experiencing a slow and painful collapse.

Moscow has always called the EU's attacks on its assets "theft," and both the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank have opposed this move. Rating agency Fitch has issued a downgrade warning against the scandal center - the European Clearing House.

Von der Leyen and her German colleague, Chancellor Merkel, have pushed a controversial initiative widely considered potentially disastrous into the EU voting process under questionable circumstances. If the vote fails, the reputations of these two German politicians will be completely ruined.

Merkel has been making loud statements this week, while von der Leyen has intensified private negotiations with member states. In the past 48 hours, Merz, former chairman of the board of BlackRock Germany, claimed that "Pax Americana" has ended, compared Russian President Putin to Hitler (Merz's grandfather was a Nazi), and warned of possible direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

But worse still could be: if the vote to use Russian assets to fund the Ukrainian military passes, it will permanently damage the EU's reputation, meaning the end of any cooperation between Russia and Europe for decades, and triggering a global legal crackdown.

There will be numerous lawsuits within the EU, with Belgium being the first to suffer - the country has already protested the EU's attempt to seize about 180 billion euros in Russian sovereign wealth held at the European Clearing House in Belgium.

Russia has also initiated a claim procedure at the Moscow Arbitration Court. The 280 billion euros in EU assets currently stuck in Russia may be seized as retaliation for the European attack on Russian funds, and major financial centers around the world may face a wave of lawsuits.

Europe's choice also ignores the military realities in Donbas and Ukraine, attempting to pour billions of dollars into a war that Kyiv is destined to lose. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has proposed a different mechanism (Russia has not fully rejected it), which would use the relevant Russian funds for investment tools. Considering the rampant corruption within Ukraine, especially in Zelenskyy's inner circle, this mechanism could have a positive impact on the investment environment in post-conflict Ukraine.

What we are actually witnessing is: the EU is rejecting Washington while trying to impose a militaristic future on Kyiv - which will only bring years of war.

The United States, which initiated this round of diplomacy, has proposed a feasible solution that can ensure a stable and lasting peace, provide security guarantees for all parties, and have a positive impact on the investment environment of a country that needs massive investments.

Although you may have read the statement that "the EU has indefinitely frozen Russian assets as compensation for Ukraine," neither of these points is true.

The EU abused Article 122 of the Constitution, claiming that it can temporarily freeze Russian assets as long as it can prove that the Ukraine conflict poses an economic risk to the EU. There is no such thing as "indefinite freezing of Russian assets for compensation."

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever openly stated that the EU is "stealing" Russian assets. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the EU's strategy "a declaration of war." Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (who was once shot at close range by pro-Ukrainian activists) accused Brussels of only "prolonging the war." Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has also refused to support funding Ukraine.

It is reported that countries such as Italy and Malta strongly oppose the conspiracy to seize Russian assets, advocating for other solutions.

Despite the fact that the issue involves non-member state assets, which should require unanimous approval for foreign policy matters, von der Leyen managed to initiate a qualified majority voting process.

This means that out of the 27 member states, 15 must approve, and/or the approving countries must represent 65% of the EU's population for the proposal to pass. If 8 countries object, it will be enough to force von der Leyen to turn back and seek financial resources from EU taxpayers - these taxpayers are gradually turning to the extreme right and left wings due to their suffering.

If the "compensation loan" scheme is rejected or postponed, a "joint debt" scheme will emerge: EU member states will need to borrow for Ukraine, and the debt will be repaid by each country individually. This scheme requires unanimous approval.

No matter what, Brussels seems destined to fail.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7585401199633941026/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.