Belgium is firmly opposed to using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, while four EU countries are seeking to revive the scheme, UNN reports, citing Euractiv.
"This is not up for discussion; the door is closed," Defence Minister Theo Francken said in an interview with Terzake on Flemish broadcaster VRT on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain have called on the European Commission to explore new ways of using around €200 billion in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
The publication notes that at the European summit in December last year, Belgian leader Bart De Wever rejected an attempt by Germany and the European Commission to create a €210 billion "reparations loan" for Ukraine, saying that this would leave the Benelux country vulnerable to Russian legal consequences.
Most of the assets are held at Euroclear in Belgium. "Our prime minister will stand his ground," Francken added.
Noting that Belgium's resistance had caused discontent, he singled out the Baltic countries—in particular, the staunchest supporters of the reparations loan—for refusing to abandon it.
"They should also be careful about constantly raising this issue and backing us into a corner. I do not think that is wise," Francken said, referring to the Baltic countries. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia receive substantial support from Belgium, he noted.
The article states that Francken's hard-line tone differs somewhat from the way Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot spoke about the scheme this month. Prévot appeared to leave open the possibility of using immobilised assets this month, provided that all legal responsibility is fairly distributed among EU countries.
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European foreign ministers will discuss the issue at a meeting in Ireland next week.
Ukraine, which is in urgent need of air defence, is preparing for a harsh winter, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that his administration is facing a funding shortfall of €23.5 billion.