EU wants to develop legal proposal on frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, Belgium to not object – media

Belgium has allegedly agreed not to block the EU's idea of ​​a "reparation loan" to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, in connection with which the European Union will now be able to move on to practical steps, Politico reports.

"EU leaders are set to instruct the European Commission to design a legal proposal to use billions of euros in Russian frozen state assets to fund a massive loan to Ukraine, after Belgium signaled it would not stand in the way," the publication reports.

The controversial proposal, if adopted, could release up to EUR 140 billion to fund Ukraine's war effort for another two to three years, using Russian state assets that were immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Belgium has taken a cautious approach because it hosts Euroclear, the financial body that holds the frozen assets, and fears a court could force it to repay the money itself. But the Belgian diplomat told POLITICO the country would not oppose the call this Thursday for the Commission to come forward with a proposal.

"Still, even if the Commission gets a green light, its legal proposal will have to survive weeks of difficult negotiations with national capitals," the report notes.

The European Commission, which has executive power in the EU, first floated the idea in September but is waiting for a clear "yes" from European heads of state and government before making a concrete proposal. That is likely to happen when the 27 EU leaders hold their quarterly European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The unnamed sources said the European Commission was confident it could come up with a legally sound plan to implement the "reparation loan" idea.