After exhausting 16-hour negotiations, EU leaders finally agreed on a plan to finance Ukraine. Instead of using frozen Russian assets, as Germany and the Scandinavian countries insisted, Brussels chose a "plan B" – joint borrowing. Although this decision allowed Kyiv to receive critically important aid, the summit clearly divided European leaders into those who dictated terms and those who were left with nothing. This is stated in the Politico material, writes UNN.
Details
Politico calls Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni the main "winner" of the summit. She skillfully paused, allowing others to exhaust their arguments, and entered the game at the perfect moment, when the idea of a loan secured by Russian assets finally failed.
Moscow rejoices after EU's failure to use frozen assets for Ukraine – Politico19.12.25, 11:04
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever also showed his "master class": he blocked the confiscation of Russian assets until the very end, fearing Kremlin retaliation, and eventually forced the EU to switch to a joint debt model.
Even direct participants in the war received partial benefits:
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy received guaranteed funding;
- Vladimir Putin kept his assets intact;
- Donald Trump left himself room to maneuver with these assets in future negotiations.
Defeat of German ambitions and EU "pariahs"
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was under the biggest attack. He aggressively promoted the idea of using frozen assets as the only possible option, but ultimately lost. Along with him, Ursula von der Leyen also remained in the shadows, resisting joint debt until the very end, but was forced to agree to it when the initiative passed into the hands of other leaders.
A trio – Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic – took a separate stance. They refused to sign the plan and will not participate in allocating funds. This is a financial victory for their budgets, but politically, such a step further isolates these countries within the European Union, bringing them closer to the status of "pariahs."