If anyone still needed proof that voting Brexit was the right decision for Britain, they need only look at the EU's abject capitulation over Russia's frozen central bank assets. Here was a moment that demanded moral clarity, political courage and strategic resolve. Instead, the European Union delivered weakness, delay and self-indulgent hand-wringing — and in doing so condemned Ukraine to more years of bloodshed while exposing the fundamental flaws at the heart of the EU project.
EU bosses also openly thwarted the will of 450m people across Europe who would, I humbly suggest, prefer to use the almost £200bn of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's war effort than 90bn of their own money.
Nearly £200 billion of Russian state assets sit frozen inside the EU, much of it in Brussels via an extremely opaque Belgium-based financial institution. This money is not the product of honest labor; it is the accumulated spoils of a corrupt kleptocratic system that looted post-Soviet Russia and funnels wealth to oligarchs and cronies while waging a fascist, imperial war in mainland Europe. Using those funds to support Ukraine would not be theft — it would be justice. It would force the aggressor to pay for its own war and dramatically reduce the burden on European taxpayers, who are instead being asked to shoulder tens of billions in new loans, with billions more in annual debt servicing costs.
Yet when the moment came for moral clarity, for the chance to really turn the screws on Putin, the EU caved in, fudged it, and kicked it down the road.
One member state — Belgium — demanded legal and financial guarantees so extensive that they effectively vetoed action, aided by the usual suspects who serve as Putin's useful idiots inside the bloc.
Viktor Orbán's Hungary, along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were rewarded with exemptions to secure unanimity. The result? A watered-down loan scheme backed by joint EU debt that falls miles short of what Ukraine actually needs and sends exactly the wrong signal to Moscow.
That the EU – and by extension the West – is divided, weak, and plagued by doubt, cowardice, and inaction.
The Kremlin noticed. Of course it did.
Russian officials openly celebrated the decision, praising the EU for failing to “illegitimately” use Russian assets and declaring that “law and common sense” had prevailed. When your enemy is publicly pleased with your actions during a war, you are doing something very wrong.
This is not diplomacy; it's just cowardice. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever likened the asset seizure plan to the Titanic, claiming “rationality has prevailed.” In reality, what prevailed was fear – fear of legal challenge, fear of financial risk, fear of taking responsibility. The EU is structurally incapable of bold action because it is paralyzed by unanimity rules, competing national interests and an obsession with process over outcomes.
And this weakness has real consequences. Ukraine is in ruins. Somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 people are dead, with hundreds of thousands more wounded or displaced. It's closer to one million on the Russian side. The West bears responsibility here. The United States and Britain promised Ukraine protection in return for giving up its nuclear weapons — a deal we shamefully welched on.
Think Putin would have invaded the third largest nuclear power in the world? No, me neither.
And now, for the second time, Ukraine is being let down by the very institutions that claim to stand for European security and values.
Contrast this with Britain outside the EU. Free from Brussels paralysis, the UK has been one of Ukraine's most consistent and forceful supporters – militarily, diplomatically and politically – both Boris and Keir. Brexit restored Britain's ability to act decisively in its own national interest and in defense of broader principles, without being blocked by risk-averse bureaucrats or self-interested member states.
The EU may one day use frozen Russian assets, as party leaders now vaguely promise. But “one day” is not good enough when people are dying today. The EU's conduct in this war was prescribed when, asked for help to fight the massively aggressive Russian war-machine, German
Defense minister Christine Lambrecht sent tin hats instead of tanks and long range missiles.
The tanks and long range missiles came later, after political hand-wringing and dithering, when so many more people had died.
The sequestration of Russian assets will come later, after political hand-wringing and dithering, when so many more people have died.
Politicians should never be allowed to fight wars.
Here's what happens should Putin be allowed to win: Millions of refugees flood Europe and the UK; Putin grabs all the military hardware to replenish Russia's armory; Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and even Poland, became the next targets. Oh and China, noting the West's spineless inability to defend itself, invades Taiwan.
The options for global conflict are legion.
Brexit was never about isolation. It was about sovereignty, accountability and the ability to act. The EU's failure over Russian assets lays bare exactly why leaving was the right call. When faced with evil, hesitation is complicity – and Britain is better off charting its own course than being tied to a bloc that cannot bring itself to do what is necessary, even when justice, morality, courage and common sense all point in the same direction.