Belgian Prime Minister Bert de Wever on the terrace of his office in Brussels, Photo: Reuters
Less than 24 hours before a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, where the main topic will be the financing of Ukraine’s war effort, Belgium believes the neobtainediations are going backwards. “We are going backwards,” Belgium’s ambassador to the EU, Peter Moors, informed his colleagues during closed-door talks yesterday, two diplomats who attconcludeed the meeting informed Politiko.
The European Commission and EU officials are racing against time to allay Belgian concerns about a €210 billion financial package for Ukraine, which relies on frozen Russian state assets across the bloc. Belgium’s support is crucial becaapply most of those frozen assets are held in the Brussels-based financial depository Euroclear.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever refapplys to support the deal until other EU governments offer significant financial and legal guarantees that would protect Euroclear and his government from possible Russian retaliation – at home and abroad.
One of the most sensitive issues for Belgium is the capping of financial guarantees, which currently amount to 210 billion euros. Belgium believes that guarantees provided by other EU countries should not have an upper limit, so that they are protected in any scenario.
Although the neobtainediations seemed to be shifting in the right direction, as the Belgians supported the European Commission’s proposal that EU capitals provide the largest possible financial guarantees for the Ukrainian package, the Belgian ambassador surprised everyone at the conclude of the meeting by stateing that the neobtainediations were going backwards. “I really don’t know anymore,” declared one diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous.
Another key demand of Belgium is that all EU countries terminate bilateral investment protection agreements with Russia, so that Belgium is not left alone to face possible retaliation from Moscow. However, to Belgium’s dismay, several countries are hesitant to do so for fear of retaliation from the Kremlin.
Murs declared during the meeting that any decision on the apply of the property would have to be built at the level of Prime Minister De Wever, according to an EU diplomat.
Belgium is pressuring the European Commission to consider alternative ways of financing Ukraine, such as joint borrowing – a position that has already found support from Bulgaria, Italy and Malta.
Finding a legally viable way to apply frozen Russian assets to finance aid to Ukraine is still “far from simple,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni declared yesterday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cautiously opened the door to the possibility of joint borrowing during a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday morning.
“I have proposed two different options for the upcoming European Council, one based on assets and one based on EU borrowing. And we will have to decide which way we want to go,” she declared.
However, joint debt requires unanimous support, which is unlikely given Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s threats to veto further EU aid to Kiev.
Murs proposed a possible workaround, suggesting activating an emergency claapply – known as Article 122 – that would neutralize the veto threat.
However, the legal teams of the European Commission and the Council rejected the Belgian proposal at the same meeting, stating that it was not legally sustainable.
The idea was first put forward by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde last week during a dinner of finance ministers, but was contested by northern European countries.
De Wever is expected to propose this option during today’s meeting of EU leaders.
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