Europe is a mess: EU vote today if they will take some of Russia $300b (value of frozen assets) and loan to Ukraine
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Zelenskyy to speak at EU summit as European leaders discuss use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine loan – Europe live
07.05 EDT
07.01 EDT
Ukraine: EU proposal for using frozen Russian assets 'fully legal and fair'
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urged European Union leaders on Thursday to agree as soon as possible on a plan to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.Zelenskyy, who is visiting Brussels, said on X that the proposed mechanism for using frozen Russian assets was entirely legal and fair. He said Ukraine would use a significant part of the assets to buy weapons from its European allies.
Belgium has been the most vocal sceptic of the plan, as it fears the move could open up the country to costly legal challenges from Russia. The prime minister, Bart De Wever, has insisted that to move ahead Belgium needs firm guarantees from all other EU states that they will share the liability if Moscow comes calling. He also wants other countries in the bloc to promise to start tapping Russian assets frozen in their territories.
“Then we could go forward,” he said at the start of the EU summit. “If not, I will do everything in my power at the European level, also at the national level, politically and legally, to stop this decision.”
Despite the Belgian hang-ups, EU leaders are expected to give the go-ahead at the summit for the European Commission to draw up a formal legal proposal for the loan.
EU officials say they hope to have a detailed proposal ready next month and be able to finalise the loan by the end of the year. But there looks set to still be wrangling over the small print, with lawyers poised to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
One key sticking point could be the conditions for how the funds can eventually be spent by Kyiv. France is insisting that the bulk of the funds goes to buying weapons from in Europe, as it seeks to bolster the EU’s defence industry.
The commission has backed that argument for now but other member states insist the focus should be on allowing Kyiv to get what it needs to fight Moscow, wherever it comes from.
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