President says violating property rights would set dangerous precedent and needed legal justification
Ukrainian plans to seize as much as $500bn in frozen Russian assets to fund the country’s recovery have met firm resistance fromThe Swiss president, Ignazio Cassis, pushed back on the plan, saying protection of property rights was fundamental in a liberal democracy. He underlined at a closing press conference the serious qualms of some leaders that proposals to confiscate Russian assets will set a dangerous precedent and needed specific legal justification.
He added: “You have to ensure the citizens are protected against the power of the state. This is what we call liberal democracies.” “We have to accord the most important attention on the fundamental right of individuals, because now we can take a decision, which is perfect for the situation in, but we create the possibility to take the same decision in many other possibilities and you give much more power to the states, away from the citizen,” he said.
“We, as a country, which is under this unprovoked aggression, will very loudly speak about this possibility because we understand that an aggressor who kills our people, destroys our infrastructure, our schools, our hospitals should pay for this.”In Switzerland, Cassis has been stalling on the issue in parliament and has come under pressure from social democrats to introduce laws allowing for the confiscation of assets.
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