The European Commission presented two decisions on financing Ukraine: what is known about the “repatriation loan”
Фото: REUTERS
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced two solutions that will help cover Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years.
This was reported by a correspondent of “European Truth”.
Europe is currently considering two ways to help – borrowing on external markets under EU budget guarantees or “reparation loans” using frozen Russian assets.
“Today we are submitting two decisions for approval by the member states. The first decision is EU borrowing. This is, in essence, raising funds on the capital markets using the EU budget as a guarantee and transferring this capital to Ukraine in the form of a loan,” the official said.
She emphasized that such a decision would require unanimity.
Instead, the second solution proposed by the European Commission is a “repatriation loan.” It is proposed to involve not only Belgian financial institutions that have accumulated the remaining funds from frozen Russian assets in the EU, but also banks from other European countries.
According to Politico , the EC is offering Ukraine a reparations loan of 165 billion euros. It is part of a larger financial package worth up to 210 billion euros.
The initiative plans to use 25 billion euros of immobilized Russian state assets stored in the accounts of private EU banks, and another 140 billion euros in the Euroclear bank in Belgium.
It is expected that 115 billion euros will be allocated to financing the defense industry, and 50 billion euros will cover Kyiv’s budget needs.
However, the “main stumbling block” in this process is the resistance of the Belgian government.
“The text that the Commission will present today does not satisfactorily address our concerns. We have the depressing feeling that we have not been heard,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevost said on Wednesday morning.
Recall that Belgium criticized the European Commission’s new proposal to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, stating that the document is “categorically unacceptable.”
It was previously reported that the European Union is working on an urgent legal mechanism that will allow frozen Russian money to be safely used to lend to Ukraine, avoiding risks for Belgium.
As is known,the European Union is preparing an alternative financing scenario for Ukraine in case the leaders fail to agree on using frozen Russian assets to create a reparations loan.
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