“That would be a miracle.” The European Union's breakthrough decision regarding Russia is getting closer

The reparations loan for Ukraine will be one of the main topics of talks between EU leaders at the summit. It would be financed from frozen assets of the Russian central bank, most of which are managed by the Euroclear clearing house located in Belgium.

“This is a step that has never been taken in history, not even during World War II,” the Belgian Prime Minister told reporters. — The frozen assets have always been secured and have never been touched, he emphasized.

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— We are still looking at the legal basis for this decision to be made. We still haven't seen it, but it seems to us that this is the beginning of everything, said De Wever.

As he said, Belgium set conditions that have not been met so far. This includes: for the communitarianization of responsibility. — We may be exposed to claims worth tens of billions of euros, or perhaps even hundreds of billions of euros. So if such claims arise, we must be responsible together, he said.

De Wever stressed that if money had to be put on the table at some point, it would have to be done immediately. “Each member state will have to contribute if this fails,” he continued.

— We are not the only country with blocked Russian assets, added the Belgian Prime Minister. According to him, there are other countries in Europe and the G7 that have certain amounts of immobilized Russian assets. — If we want to hand it over to Ukraine, we must all do it together. Otherwise, Russian retaliation may only affect Belgium, he said.

When asked about the chances of a decision at the summit on Thursday, he replied that he would be surprised if everything could be sorted out, but – as he emphasized – “miracles have already happened.”