Loan for Ukraine: Belgium puts forward three important conditions

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, named three conditions for converting frozen Russian assets into a loan for Ukraine.

This was reported by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Belgium sees the European initiative as a risk to the state and a threat to the stability of financial markets. Therefore, the official clearly outlined the conditions.

First of all, Bart de Wever demands guarantees in case Russia seeks to return the money and Ukraine is unable to do so. The guarantees must be “legally binding, unconditional, irrevocable.”

At the same time, all risks associated with potential lawsuits under the bilateral investment treaty should be shared between European countries. Belgium demands that all costs of these processes be fully covered, if they occur.

The European Commission agreed with both demands. In particular, last week, Ursula von der Leyen promised to fulfill them in a letter to EU member states.

The third Belgian condition is to involve all European states that have frozen Russian assets in the initiative. According to the prime minister, 25 billion euros are held in banks in other countries, the largest amount in France.

The head of the European Commission has already stated that the lending initiative can be extended to other European banks.

In addition, the EC may consider a mixed financing option consisting of three components: bilateral commitments of EU countries, joint European debt, and the use of Russian assets.

The European Commission’s priority remains to provide a loan using Russia’s frozen assets. However, de Wever believes that the rapid implementation of the initiative could harm the process of a peaceful settlement of the war and the conclusion of an agreement.

Previously, EU officials and the Belgian government were unable to find a solution to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s needs over the next two years.

As reported, the European Union may find itself faced with the need to raise tens of billions of euros in joint debt if Belgium does not agree to unblock the mechanism of the so-called “reparation loan” for Ukraine.

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