“The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, Maxim Prevost, stated that the updated, not yet publicized plan of the European Commission regarding the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable for his country and urged not to devalue their concerns.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: “European Truth” with reference to Prevo’s words before the start of the NATO ministerial meeting
Details: On Wednesday, the European Commission is expected to approve and publicize a new proposal for a “reparation loan,” a scheme for the partial transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. However, even before this publication, Belgium strongly criticized the prepared document.
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Prevo announced that his government considers the very idea of using a reparation loan as a mechanism to support Ukraine to be unsuccessful.
“Belgium, without a doubt, supports the fact that it is necessary to cover Ukraine’s financial needs. But there are various options for how to do it. We have repeatedly said that we consider the option of a reparation loan to be the worst of all possible, because it is risky, and no one has ever done this before,” the minister said, in particular, while reading a prepared official statement to journalists.
According to him, the Belgian government continues to “insist on the alternative, namely, the EU borrowing the necessary amounts on the market.”
The minister also accused Europe of undervaluing the arguments of the Belgians.
At the end of November, trying to influence the decision, the Prime Minister of Belgium Bart de Wever wrote laid them out in a letter addressed to the President of the EC Ursula von der Leyen.
“All the concerns are clearly stated in the letter of my Prime Minister. These are legitimate and well-founded concerns. However, we have the unpleasant feeling that we have not been heard. Our concerns are being devalued. The text that the commission will present today does not adequately respond to our concerns,” Prevo stated the government’s position.
The Belgian authorities mean that if such a decision is adopted, the European Commission will “leave Belgium alone with the risks”.
“We demand that the risks faced by Belgium as a result of this scheme are fully covered. We simply want to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences for a member state that is asked to show solidarity without offering the same solidarity in return,” the minister fumed.
Such a strong rejection of the new scheme by Belgium, which holds the lion’s share of frozen Russian assets, makes it extremely unlikely that the EC’s proposal will be approved at the summit in December. This, in turn, calls into question the financial stability of Ukraine in 2026.
We will remind:
- As “Evropeyska Pravda” reported, the European Commission really does received a letter from the Prime Minister of Belgium about rosaceabut they say that “work is in progress”.
- At the same time, other EU countries are acting against providing unlimited guarantees to Belgium to unblock the loan to Ukraine.
- Also read the article: The EU is looking for funds for Ukraine: what options can replace the reparation loan.