Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has stated he is confident that the European Commission will not propose further financing for Ukraine’s needs through a new operation involving Russian assets held at the Belgian depository Euroclear, as reported by The Brussels Times.
"I am confident of this, because that is exactly what was said," the publication quotes the Belgian Prime Minister as saying during a meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs.
According to De Wever, this issue was discussed at the EU summit on October 15–16, and the European Commission provided assurances that it would not reopen the debate regarding the assets.
A year ago, Belgium took a firm stance against a proposal to utilize approximately €185 billion in frozen Russian assets held at Euroclear. Instead, EU leaders agreed on a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, covering the current and coming year; however, these funds are expected to be insufficient, as Zelenskyy requested an additional €70 billion for 2027 during the summit.
De Wever did not rule out the possibility that some EU member states might once again attempt to raise the issue of Russian assets. He criticized Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Rob Jetten for publicly supporting the seizure of these funds, noting that new leaders, who were not involved in last year’s debates, are now putting forward arguments that he had managed to "nip in the bud" a year ago.
According to him, he warned his colleagues that even public statements in favor of confiscation could carry legal consequences.
Source of information: News Agency e.g.: REUTERS / TASS / AFP / ANADOLU / INT.RU /Al Jazeera / CNN
The European Commission will no longer propose confiscating frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, Belgium's prime minister said.
ReplyDeleteIf individual European leaders continue talking about confiscation, they are doing so 'out of ignorance,' he added.