EU proposes plan to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine
The European Union has proposed two options to address Ukraine's financial needs, strained by the war: either a loan secured by frozen Russian assets or one backed by the EU's own budget.
The legislative proposals came just hours after Belgium preemptively rejected the Russian assets plan, which would use up to €210 billion in immobilised Russian central bank funds to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s full-scale assault, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Belgium, which houses most of the Russian assets, said it remains worried the country could be forced to repay the massive loan on its own.
“The text the commission will table today does not address our concerns in a satisfactory manner,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on Wednesday morning before a Nato meeting in Brussels.
The comments threw yet another spanner into the EU’s attempts to find fresh funds for Ukraine after the US axed its support. With Kyiv facing a cash crunch in the coming months, officials are running out of time.
The White House is also turning the screws on Europe as it tries to accelerate peace talks over the war. The Trump administration has urged Europe to use the assets but also suggested the US could use the money for post-war investments.
Most EU leaders have long considered using Russian assets as the most feasible way to get Ukraine the billions it needs as Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches its fourth year.
Belgium, however, has been resisting, anxious about legal ramifications for the country given most of the funds are housed at the Brussels-based Euroclear.
“It is not acceptable to use the money and leave us alone facing the risk,” Prevot said.
The commission, as well as member states, have tried to allay these fears, but Belgium says it remains unconvinced by the legal options being floated.
European officials had hoped the commission’s legal proposal on Wednesday would help quash that idea and allow EU leaders to sign off on the plan when they gather in Brussels on 18 December.
That timeline now seems in doubt.
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