Bangladesh, Dec. 11 -- The European Unions leadership has developed a curious talent over the past decade: taking deeply questionable political decisions, wrapping them in the language of noble sacrifice, and presenting them as moral victories for the continent. The latest example-handing frozen Russian assets to Ukraine-is not merely another chapter in Brussels script of self-congratulation. It is a lesson in how a political bloc can convince itself that theft becomes virtue simply by draping it in the vocabulary of international solidarity.

For months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her allies have insisted that using Russian central bank assets, or the profits generated from them, is merely a “loan”...