At the end of last week, the European Union agreed on 90 billion euros in funding for Ukraine over two years. This happened on December 19: according to this decision, Ukraine will return these funds only after receiving reparations from Russia, while blocked Russian assets will remain frozen. At the same time, the process of adopting this decision was not easy, reports UNN with reference to Euronews.
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A plan to provide Kyiv with a reparations loan was put up for discussion. It, in turn, was based on frozen Russian assets held in a Belgian depository. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke in favor of this option, while Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever opposed it.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also opposed this decision.
In order to reach a compromise, a wording was adopted stating that frozen Russian assets could be used in the future, but without specifying how. It is also difficult to understand how Ukraine will return 90 billion euros if Moscow does not pay reparations. The main outcome of the meeting was that EU leaders were able to make an important decision without unanimity.