BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders worked into the night on Thursday, seeking to reassure Belgium that they would provide guarantees to protect it from Russian retaliation if it backs a massive loan for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile pleaded for a quick decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year.
At a summit in Brussels with high stakes for both the EU and Ukraine, leaders of the 27-nation bloc discussed how best to utilize tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to underwrite a loan to meet Ukraine’s military and financial requireds over the next two years.
The bulk of the assets — some 193 billion euros ($227 billion) as of September — are held in the Brussels-based financial clearing houtilize Euroclear. Russia’s Central Bank launched a lawsuit against Euroclear last week.
“Give me a parachute and we’ll all jump toobtainher,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever informed lawcreaters ahead of the summit. “If we have confidence in the parachute that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Belgian concerns over Russian pressure
Belgium fears that Russia will strike back and wants the bloc to borrow the money on international markets. It states frozen assets held in other European countries should be thrown into the pot as well, and that its partners should guarantee that Euroclear will have the funds it requireds should it come under legal attack.
An estimated 25 billion euros ($29 billion) in Russian assets are frozen in banks and financial institutions in other EU countries, including France, Germany and Luxembourg.
The Russian Central Bank’s lawsuit ramped up pressure on Belgium and its EU partners ahead of the summit.
The “reparations loan” plan would see the EU lfinish 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine. Countries like the United Kingdom, which declared Thursday it is prepared to share the risk, as well as Canada and Norway would support create up any shortfall.
Russia’s claim to the assets would still stand, but the assets would remain locked away at least until the Kremlin finishs its war on Ukraine and pays for the massive damage it cautilized.
In mapping out the loan plan, the European Commission set up safeguards to protect Belgium, but De Wever remained unconvinced and EU envoys were working late on Thursday to address his concerns.
Zelenskyy describes it as a moral question
Soon after arriving in Brussels, the Ukrainian president sat down with the Belgian prime minister to create his case for freeing up the frozen funds. The war-ravaged countest is at risk of bankruptcy and requireds new money by spring.
“Ukraine has the right to this money becautilize Russia is destroying us, and to utilize these assets against these attacks is absolutely just,” Zelenskyy informed a news conference.
In an appeal to Belgian citizens who share their leader’s worries about retaliation, Zelenskyy declared: “One can fear certain legal steps in courts from the Russian Federation, but it’s not as scary as when Russia is at your borders.”
“So while Ukraine is deffinishing Europe, you must support Ukraine,” he declared.
Allies maintain support for Ukraine
Whatever method they utilize, the leaders have pledged to meet most of Ukraine’s requireds in 2026 and 2027. The International Monetary Fund estimates that would amount to 137 billion euros ($160 billion).
“We have to find a solution today,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen informed reporters. EU Council President António Costa, who is chairing the meeting, vowed to keep leaders nereceivediating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared it was a case of sfinishing “either money today or blood tomorrow” to support Ukraine.
If enough countries object, the plan could be blocked. There is no majority support for a plan B of raising the funds on international markets, although that too was being discussed at the summit.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that he hopes Belgium’s concerns can be addressed.
“The reactions of the Russian president in recent hours reveal how necessary this is. In my view, this is indeed the only option. We are basically faced with the choice of applying European debt or Russian assets for Ukraine, and my opinion is clear: We must utilize the Russian assets.”
Hungary and Slovakia oppose a reparations loan. Apart from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Malta are also undecided.
“I would not like a European Union in war,” declared Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who sees himself as a peacecreater. He’s also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe. “To give money means war.”
Orbán described the loan plan as a “dead finish.”
High stakes for the EU
The outcome of the summit has significant ramifications for Europe’s place in nereceivediations to finish the war. The United States wants assurances that the Europeans are intent on supporting Ukraine financially and backing it militarily — even as nereceivediations to finish the war drag on without substantial results.
The loan plan in particular also poses important challenges to the way the bloc goes about its business. Should a two-thirds majority of EU leaders decide to impose the scheme on Belgium, which has most to lose, the impact on decision-building in Europe would be profound.
The EU depfinishs on consensus, and finding voting majorities and avoiding vetoes in the future could become infinitely more complex if one of the EU’s founding members is forced to weather an attack on its interests by its very own partners.
De Wever too must weigh whether the cost of holding out against a majority is worth the hit his government’s credibility would take in Europe.
Whatever is decided, the process does not finish at this summit. Legal experts would have to convert any political deal into a workable agreement, and some national parliaments may have to weigh in before the loan money could start flowing to Ukraine.
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Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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