German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the EU's plan to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine's defense is essential to increase pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, UNN reports with reference to AFP.
"It's about helping Ukraine, but also about sending a clear signal to Russia that we will use the assets that are here to help end this war as quickly as possible," Merz told parliament ahead of a key EU summit.
The publication notes that the European Union has developed a plan to use frozen assets to raise 90 billion euros (105 billion dollars) as a loan to help Ukraine, with the money to be repaid from any possible Russian reparations to Ukraine.
However, while the plan has strong support from many member states, including Germany, it has met with opposition from others, notably Belgium - the country where Euroclear, an international depositary organization that holds most of the assets, is located - whose leaders fear Russian retaliation.
Merz said ahead of the summit that "it is not enough for us to cut off the sources of income for the Russian war machine with further sanctions."
"It is not enough for us in Europe to continue providing financial support to Ukraine as before. It is not enough for us to use all our political weight for peace negotiations. We must do all this, and we are certainly doing it, but it is clear that pressure on Putin must be further increased to convince him to start serious negotiations," the German Chancellor added.
Merz also said that he was "aware of the concerns of the Belgian government" and that Germany was "consulting with its partners to take them into account."
"We don't want to take this step to prolong the war," he added. "We want to take it to end the war as quickly as possible."