EU seeks more legal power over oligarchs

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s executive arm entered sensitive legal territory on Wednesday with a proposal to confiscate the frozen assets of oligarchs who try to violate the bloc’s sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The European Commission proposed two EU laws that would require the 27 member states to cede a degree of jealously guarded national sovereignty over criminal matters.

One piece of draft legislation seeks new European rules on freezing and confiscating the assets of people blacklisted by the EU. The second legislative proposal aims to expand the list of acts deemed to be “EU crimes” by including breaches of European sanctions.

Both initiatives need the approval of EU governments in a scrutiny process that usually takes many months and can even last for years. The bloc’s heads of government are due to discuss options for using the frozen assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs to support the reconstruction of Ukraine during a two-day summit next week.

“There is no time to lose,” Margaritis Schinas, a European Commission vice president in charge of security matters, told reporters in Brussels. “Many times we see assets recovery and confiscation of the small fry, whereas the big sharks find ways to evade.”

While the EU has spent decades crafting common rules on various areas of criminal law, European sanctions against Russian leaders and oligarchs over the past three months have added impetus to calls for a stronger European framework.

The EU has imposed asset freezes and travel bans on more than 1,000 people, including over 30 oligarchs, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Almost $10.7 billion of assets have so far been frozen by EU member countries, according to the European Commission.

The draft European law would require each member country to establish at least one “asset recovery office,” make it easier for authorities to freeze assets and regulate how such property is managed.