German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has advocated providing Belgium with guarantees and sharing the risks associated with using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine among all European Union countries.
Reuters reports this.
Merz noted that each state should "bear an equal share of the risk in accordance with its economic potential".
The European Commission proposed on the same day to use frozen Russian assets or a loan from the EU budget to help Ukraine finance defense and basic public services. However, the initiative did not convince Belgium, which holds the largest number of Russian assets.
Merz emphasized that Belgium cannot rely solely on political promises and deserves legal guarantees.
"It is unacceptable for one state to bear an excessive burden in this matter," he said.
Using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine
The possibility of providing Ukraine with a €140 billion loan using frozen Russian assets has been discussed since early October. At that time, EU leaders were unable to agree on the loan — Belgium opposed it, and France and Luxembourg were concerned about the legal consequences.
The European Commission has proposed providing Ukraine with a loan using Russian state assets held in “Euroclear”, a Belgian financial institution. Under the plan, if Russia refuses to pay reparations to Ukraine after the war, it will lose rights to these assets.
Belgium opposed the plan out of concern that Russia would sue it if it went ahead. Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever asked the other 26 EU countries to guarantee coverage of legal and financial risks.
Politico reported on October 21 that EU ambassadors had tentatively agreed on a plan to provide a “reparations loan” for Ukraine. However, at a meeting on October 23, EU leaders did not agree to allocate the loan and postponed the issue until December.
Euronews wrote on November 8 that negotiations between the European Commission and the Belgian authorities on using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine have not yet yielded any results.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Russia has prepared a response to the Westʼs possible "reparations loan" to Ukraine — it will nationalize foreign assets.
On Wednesday, December 2, Politico, citing sources, reported that European governments are accusing Belgium of making excessive demands on guarantees if the Kremlin sues them over the use of frozen Russian assets, which they believe could derail negotiations with Russia.
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