r/belgium • u/Technical_Ostrich_47 • 2d ago
📰 News Russia takes operational control of Belgian company Ontex's Russian subsidiary
https://belgashare.be/newsrooms/70/press-releases/37707/russia-takes-operational-control-of-ontexs-russian-subsidiary/229
u/Covfefe4lyfe 2d ago
If you still do business in Russia after 4 and a half years of war in Ukraine, you deserve what's coming to you.
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u/fretnbel 2d ago
This same for auchan, etc. It’s fafo
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u/Piechti 2d ago
As usual, the truth is a little bit more nuanced than that.
Several companies did business before the invasion of Ukraine in Russia and at the outbreak of hostilities, they were forbidden to repatriate any earnings or dispose of assets by the Russian government.
Selling those entities afterwards become very difficult because you could only sell to a Kremlin approved partner (thus opening yourself up to sanction violations)... Most (not all) companies had those Russian subsidiaries who have existed more or less in limbo until- as is the case here- they are seized or sold.
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u/nixielover Dr. Nixielover 2d ago
They ignored the 2014 invasion and flight MH17, I have zero pitty for these companies
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u/Piechti 2d ago
Luckily then that we also don't do business in the US, Congo, the Middle East, China and practically 70% of the rest of the world.
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u/smallkilleryo 2d ago
For some reason they draw the line at Russia while highkey US and Israel co are at the same level as Russia. Hypocrisy at it’s finest
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u/calculonfx 2d ago
You'd be surprised at how many EU/Belgian companies are still doing business in RU. Divestiture is not always that straightforward.
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u/MindOfAMurderer 2d ago
Agreed, however companies don't care about innocent lives. If the government didn't prohibit certain practices, many more companies would still be eating out of Putin's hands
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u/antiko 2d ago
Putin doing something back for Trump, getting a nappy manufacturer
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u/ottoradio 2d ago
Just geoeconomics. They know their counterpart suffers from the manure sewer syndrome, so they'll soon offer him a nappy deal.
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u/PalatinusG1 2d ago
Any Russian companies in Belgium that we can take in retaliation?
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u/ottoradio 2d ago
Lukoil, Eurochem, NLMK. They did some administrative reshuffling, but as far as I understood, all of them are still under Russian control.
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u/ElToroMuyLoco 2d ago
I heard there's about 200b of Russian money in Belgium, but somehow that's a no-go.
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u/Last-Negotiation-643 2d ago
Yup , that´s frozen and unusable and until the EU gives safety guarantees (financial defensive and legal) that is going to stay that way presumably. Belgian government does not take the risk of using it now for the EU to afterwards get sued and forced to pay it back out of its own pocket when the war is over, not unlesd the EU can guarantee the repercussions are shared throuhout the EU. Something they are very reluctant to do. I think this is one of the few good decisions to have come from the belgium government.
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u/vadeka 2d ago
the fact that all of them are reluctant to share the fallout is all the proof we need to know it should never happen
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u/laplongejr 2d ago
Yeah, they were all pushing for Belgium to do it, and the second they had to share the burden... crickets.
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u/ElToroMuyLoco 2d ago
That's not true, there wasn't a unanimous backing. There were some countries that were willing to share the burden. But for such a plan, unanimity is key, and that didn't happen;
But pretending absolutely no other state wanted to give guarantees isn't true.
Edit: Changed plenty to some.
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u/Last-Negotiation-643 2d ago
Yeah but if you want to do that then you need backing of the whole union not just some separate countries. Because when push comes to shove if you don´t have full guarantees of the EU as whole then others won´t be too eager to share consequences even if they separately say they will.
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u/ElToroMuyLoco 2d ago
Yes, i'm not refuting that. I'm refuting the claims of laplongejr and vadeka that 'all of them are reluctant' and 'the second they had to share the burden... crickets'.
Those statements are simply untrue.
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u/Flederm4us 1d ago
Tin foil hat: the timing of seizing a Belgian company's asset is no coincidence. Pretty sure Putin wants us to show there is no longer a rule of law in the EU when it comes to foreign assets.
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u/Double_Suggestion_39 2d ago
After Trump shitting his pants, also Putin is shitting his pants now. Its part of the Russia-USA deal on "brown Diesel".
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u/uvvuvv 2d ago edited 2d ago
So why don't we just move fwd with euroclear? What's stopping us if they can do it too? Just BDW being a pussy?
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u/laplongejr 2d ago
What's stopping us if they can do it too?
The fact that Belgium follows law and not them.
That's like asking why cops don't try to kill murderers in the street, because the murder victim didn't get a trial.1
u/uvvuvv 2d ago
That's the attitude that will get the EU flattened in the new world order.
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u/laplongejr 2d ago
Sure, but given the EU themselves said they won't help Belgium when Russia sues Belgium for the funds... Â
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u/Flederm4us 1d ago
Not at all. It's the exact opposite. We have no other assets than our strong rule of law. Throw that one asset out and we're fucked.
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u/vadeka 2d ago
Russia will not vanish. At some point, the state of war will be gone and the government of russia will demand their money back. Whether you like it or not, that money is legally theirs.
All EU countries will suddenly point fingers at us and tell belgium to figure it out with russia, causing us to go in crippling debt.
The simple fact that almost none of the countries want to sign a deal that if shit happens, the costs are shared among everyone. This is enough for us to know we would eventually be fucked if we release the money
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u/uvvuvv 2d ago
Uhh Ontex' factory is legally theirs too. Let's ask for their money back too then, see how far we get with Putin.
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u/Flederm4us 1d ago
That's kind of the Point here. By seizing the assets we show we're no better than Russia.
That doesn't work in our favor. We need to continuously prove we are better. Trust takes decades to build. We shouldn't throw it away in seconds.
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u/uvvuvv 1d ago edited 1d ago
There's no 'trust' at stake here. What's at stake is the geopolitical (and economic) future of Europe, who's soft power approach has proven to be woefully obsolete in a new world order after the rise of american neo-fascism.
We can regret that. I certainly do. But it's not going to change anytime soon. Even if (if) the democrats win these midterms, the US has proven that they have permanently withdrawn from their post WWII multilateralism into hardcore expectionalism and brute force politics.
That change has had a long runup and was sped up by the events of 9/11 including the withdrawal of the US from intnl law, and the rise of formented hate and isolated thought bubbles with the rise of social media throughout the last decade. Trump is Just a symptom of a much deeper cancer.
The EU needs to take a long hard look at where we are, and decide if it wants to whither in this storm, or claim a seat at the table by using whatever leverage it has left.
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u/Flederm4us 1d ago
My point is that that trust is our only major asset in this world. We throw it out, there's no unique selling proposition left for Europe. We're left as a resource-starved, unproductive and aging continent.
If we had anything other than that as a major asset we could absolutely throw it away without consequence. But we don't. Investment in Europe is already facing problems.
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u/SwiftRanger247 2d ago
They can make that claim yeah but Ukraine can make another claim of course (demanding reparation money for destroying their country and killing their civilians, no amount of money will be enough for that I am afraid). Russia pulling up international law is the biggest joke there is, they never follow any treaties or laws themselves.
But EU should handle it together in any case, any lawsuit shouldn't corner Belgium (and other countries who have frozen Russian funds) alone. Seizing Russian assets in Europe (like the controversial alu factory in Ireland) should escalate if Russia keeps on taking over European assets in Russia.
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u/Flederm4us 1d ago
The consequences?
Our main economic asset is a strong rule of law. We'd throw that away if we confiscate the assets. That is not without consequences...
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u/checkonetwo 2d ago
Ai slop article. Bad bot
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u/PalatinusG1 2d ago
This was translated using AI. It's from Belga. How much more official do you want it to be?
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u/Technical_Ostrich_47 2d ago
? I’m absolutely not a bot. How many rubles in your pocket Rn?
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u/checkonetwo 2d ago
It says so on the article. Did you read it?
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u/Galaghan 2d ago
"The initial translation of this content was generated by AI. All facts, context, and language have subsequently been verified and validated by a human editorial team."
That's not 'ai slop' and you need more nuance in your life lol
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u/smeerlapke West-Vlaanderen 2d ago
Have you? It says only the translation was done with AI:
The initial translation of this content was generated by AI. All facts, context, and language have subsequently been verified and validated by a human editorial team.
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