Today a summit of EU countries began in Brussels, which will consider a mechanism for transferring frozen foreign assets of the aggressor country Russia to support and restore Ukraine, including in the form of a reparation loan.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine cannot leave the summit without a decision.
“Most of the leaders support the reparation loan, there are leaders who support other instruments. I cannot tell you for the leaders how today or the next day will end. In one thing, it seems to me, we are united – that we cannot afford for Ukraine to be left without an answer these days regarding financial opportunities for next year, because this is really a threat,” the head of state said.
He noted that the level of the budget deficit of €45-50 billion is “exact”, but it could be higher. Such a lack of funds is “not only about the front, it is, in principle, about Ukraine’s ability to fight,” the president added.
Context
Some €185 billion of frozen Russian assets remain under the management of financial depository Euroclear, which is based in Brussels. Another €25 billion lies in various places in the EU in private bank accounts, Politico wrote.
In September, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented a new plan to support Ukraine using frozen Russian assets. As part of this plan, a proposal appeared for the so-called reparation loan, which provides for the provision of financing to Ukraine without direct confiscation of assets.
On 12 December the European Council agreed with the need to freeze Russian assets in the EU until the end of the Russian war against Ukraine. Zelensky said that according to plans, frozen Russian funds could be transferred to Ukraine to €45 billion per year.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever named three conditions under which the country where the main assets of the Russian Federation are stored will agree to support the idea of a “reparation loan,” and Valerie Urbain, director of the Belgian depositary Euroclear, which manages the frozen Russian assets, stated that she “does not rule out” lawsuits against the European Union if a decision is made to confiscate them.
