Belgium on Monday opposed the European Commission's proposed concessions to unblock a €210 billion loan for Ukraine, financed by frozen Russian assets, dashing EU hopes of reaching an agreement before Thursday's leaders' summit, Politico reports, writes UNN.
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Two days before the summit, the European Commission is making a final push to convince EU member states to support the loan so that billions of euros from Russian reserves held at the Euroclear bank in Brussels can be released to support Ukraine's war-torn economy.
"27 EU envoys will continue discussions on the scheme later on Tuesday," amid talks on ending Russia's war against Ukraine making some progress during a meeting of Western leaders and US envoys in Berlin on Monday, the publication writes.
After several days of negotiations on the assets, the European Commission on Monday proposed legal changes to its proposal to ensure political support from Belgium.
According to the latest text seen by the publication, they had "legal guarantees that in any scenario, Belgium could receive up to 210 billion euros if it faced legal claims or retaliatory measures from Russia." It also stated that "no money should be given to Ukraine until EU countries provide financial guarantees covering at least 50 percent of the payment."
As a further concession, "the European Commission has instructed all EU countries to terminate their bilateral investment agreements with Russia so that Belgium is not left alone to deal with retaliation from Moscow," the publication writes.
"But Belgium said the assurances were not enough during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday evening," four EU diplomats said.
"There will be no agreement before the European Council meeting," an EU diplomat said.
The Belgian government has been reluctant to use Russian assets due to fears that it would have to repay the full amount if Russia tried to reclaim the money. But a further complication was that four other countries – Italy, Malta, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic – backed Belgium's demand to explore alternative financing for Ukraine, such as joint debt.
While France continues to publicly support the frozen assets plan – the country's European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad said in Brussels on Tuesday that Paris supports it – a person close to French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris is "neutral" on whether Europe should use Moscow's billions or turn to Eurobonds to finance Ukraine.
Proponents of the scheme, such as Germany, are reportedly insisting that there is no real alternative to using Russian assets. They say that joint debt is impossible because it requires unanimity, meaning that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has long been skeptical of supporting Ukraine, could block the initiative.
"Let's not fool ourselves. If we fail to do this, the European Union's ability to act will be severely damaged for years, if not longer," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.
But this, the publication notes, is not convincing for all EU countries. Critics argue that Germany is pushing for the use of Russian assets because it is ideologically opposed to joint EU debt.
"The narrative is that Hungary is against joint debt [for Ukraine]. The reality is that the frugal are against joint debt," an EU diplomat said.