Prime Minister Bart De Wever of Belgium has resisted EU demands to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a proposed Ukraine ‘reparations loan’. The Financial Times reports that EU member states are growing impatient with Belgium’s refusal to approve a bloc-backed plan to finance Ukraine’s war effort using these assets. The plan, backed by pro-Kiev governments, seeks to leverage approximately €190 billion in frozen Russian funds held by Euroclear, a Belgium-based depository.
Russia has denounced any attempt to repurpose its sovereign wealth as ‘theft’, and skeptics such as IMF chief Christine Lagarde have warned that the move could undermine global trust in the EU’s financial system. Supporters of the plan argue it falls short of outright confiscation, claiming Moscow could eventually agree to repay the loan as part of a future peace settlement.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said last week that his country does not want to be solely responsible for the proposed obligation ‘if it goes wrong’, and has called for other EU nations to share the potential liabilities. A senior official told the Financial Times that Belgium has spent three years asserting that Euroclear is Belgian and so are the benefits, but now claims it is European when it wants to share the risks. Another source argued that the financial risks were ‘probably manageable’. A EU diplomat reportedly told the newspaper that there is no more low-hanging fruit, and that Brussels needs new funding sources for Ukraine, with everyone needing to do what they can.
According to the FT, De Wever’s reluctance frustrated several EU leaders during last week’s Ukraine-focused summit in Copenhagen. Moscow has accused the EU of sabotaging potential peace efforts, arguing that Kiev’s backers would rather prolong the conflict than admit their strategy has failed.