Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has warned the EU's plan to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine could endanger the chances for a potential peace deal to end the nearly four-year war.
“Hastily moving forward on the proposed reparations loan scheme would have, as a collateral damage, that we as EU are effectively preventing reaching an eventual peace deal,” Mr De Wever said in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Under a plan put forward by Ms von der Leyen, the frozen Russian central bank assets in Europe would be lent to Ukraine for Kyiv to use for defence and regular budget needs.
Belgium's support for the plan is crucial as the assets the EU hopes to use are held by Belgian financial institution Euroclear.
“The proposed reparations loan scheme is in my view fundamentally wrong,” Mr De Wever said, adding that historically, during a war, immobilised assets had never been put to use.
“Such assets have been the object of decisions during after-war settlements, usually in the context of war reparations by the losing party.”
EU leaders tried at a summit last month to agree on a plan to use €140 billion ($162 billion) in frozen Russian sovereign assets in Europe as a loan for Kyiv, but failed to secure Belgium's backing.
France's President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Coalition of the Willing would work on finding a solution to us
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