Skip to content
OPINION (COM(2022)0245 – C90186/2022 – 2022/0167(COD))

On the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Asset recovery and confiscation

BUDG-AD-739737

Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: Vlad Gheorghe

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull textProcedure & committee votes
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 26 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

The Committee on Budgets gives its opinion on the proposed directive on asset recovery and confiscation, proposing amendments to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. It wants the directive's scope widened to cover aggression against Ukraine and to give the European Public Prosecutor's Office the same access to information as national authorities. It asks that net revenues from liquidated confiscated assets linked to Russian aggression go to Ukraine's reconstruction and victim compensation, channelled through the EU budget as external assigned revenue. It proposes that such revenues become a new own resource of the EU budget after a Commission impact assessment, and that member states guarantee sufficient staff, training and resources for asset recovery and management offices.

Committee position. The Committee on Budgets proposes amendments to the directive, mainly to widen its scope to aggression against Ukraine, give the EPPO equal information access, channel revenues from confiscated Russian-linked assets to Ukraine's reconstruction and victims through the EU budget, and make such revenues a new own resource after a Commission assessment.

Key points

  1. The opinion welcomes measures to reinforce national asset recovery offices, support asset tracing, speed up information exchange, manage criminal assets and fight violations of EU restrictive measures.
  2. It says confiscation must be based on evidence and the rule of law, occur rapidly, and specify where recovered assets go, since reintroducing them into the legal economy is the goal.
  3. It proposes extending the directive's scope to the crime of aggression or facilitation of aggression against Ukraine, subject to Council Decisions under Article 83 TFEU.
  4. It asks member states to guarantee sufficient budgetary resources to manage frozen property and limit state liability for loss of value, and to give asset recovery and management offices enough staff, funding and technical resources plus regular training on ethics and anti-corruption.
  5. It wants the European Public Prosecutor's Office to have the same access to information as national competent authorities, including direct access to SIENA and reporting obligations.
  6. It proposes that net revenues from confiscated assets become a new own resource of the EU budget, after a Commission impact assessment on mutualising risks and benefits.
  7. It asks that revenues from assets linked to Russian aggression against Ukraine be external assigned revenue, mainly for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe Eastern Neighbourhood line (14 02 01 11), to rebuild Ukrainian infrastructure and compensate victims.
  8. It proposes that Ukrainian authorities submit reconstruction projects after consulting civil society, with Parliament and the Commission monitoring implementation and anti-corruption safeguards, and compensation through a victims' claims registry and claims commission.
  9. It proposes amendments to recitals and articles on freezing measures preserving asset value, asset recovery offices' access to bank account and financial transaction data, confidentiality and ethics rules, and cooperation with the EPPO.
  10. It proposes that member states take measures to use confiscated property for public interest or social purposes, with a focus on victims, and that confiscation measures serve victims' rights to compensation.
  11. It proposes that member states collect detailed statistics including the net value of liquidated assets, transmit them to the Commission by 15 March each year, and that the Commission make them public and lay down detailed rules.
  12. It proposes that asset recovery offices, asset management offices, the Commission and the EPPO have direct access to search information, and that member states establish central registers of frozen, managed and confiscated property.

Who is affected

  • Member states, which must guarantee resources, training and statistics, and manage frozen property.
  • Asset recovery offices and asset management offices, which gain access to information and must cooperate with the EPPO.
  • The European Public Prosecutor's Office, which would get the same information access as national authorities.
  • Ukraine and its victim population, which would receive reconstruction funding and compensation from confiscated assets.
  • Victims of crime, whose compensation rights must be preserved and who may benefit from confiscated assets.

Figures and deadlines

  • 15 March: annual deadline for member states to transmit statistics to the Commission.
  • Article 83 TFEU: legal basis for defining crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
  • Article 311 TFEU: legal basis for a new own resource from confiscated assets.
  • Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation: basis for external assigned revenue.
  • Budget line 14 02 01 11: Eastern Neighbourhood line for NDICI – Global Europe.
  • Budget line 14 02 01 70: NDICI – Global Europe provisioning of the common provisioning fund line.

Legal basis: Article 83 TFEU and Article 311 TFEU.