Fen Osler Hampson, Allan Rock and Tim Sargent
Belgium’s legal and liability concerns have stalled the European Union’s plan to tap frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. This paper argues that a lien-based approach coupled with a shared EU-G7 indemnification scheme could break the impasse by offering a structured, enforceable alternative that preserves legality and distributes risk.
A conditional, first-priority lien would only be triggered if Russia fails to honour reparations, thereby enabling financing for Ukraine without permanent confiscation or unlimited liability for Belgium.
This approach directly addresses Belgium’s worries about concentrated liability exposure and potential lawsuits, while offering the EU and G7 partners a credible path to sustain Ukraine support and maintain financial credibility in international markets. If embraced, such a mechanism could serve as a consensus-building framework among EU member states, Belgium, and Euroclear, potentially unlocking liquidity for Ukraine.
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Fen Osler Hampson is a former Director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) (2000-2012). He is currently Chancellor’s Professor and Professor of International Affairs in the School. Professor Hampson served as Director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) and is the President of the World Refugee & Migration Council.
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Allan Rock is the president emeritus and was until 2022 a professor of law at the University of Ottawa. A former trial lawyer, he entered politics in 1993 and spent 10 years as a federal cabinet minister in the Justice, Health, Industry and Infrastructure portfolios. Allan was Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations between 2003 and 2006 and the president of the University of Ottawa from 2008 to 2016.
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Tim Sargent is a senior fellow and director of the Domestic Policy Program at Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a distinguished fellow at Centre for International Governance Innovation. He spent 28 years in the Canadian federal government, where he served as associate deputy minister of finance, G7/G20 and Financial Stability Board deputy, deputy minister of international trade, deputy minister of fisheries and oceans, and associate deputy minister of agriculture, among other positions.
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