BrusselsThe European Union wants to continue helping Ukraine, but without scratching their pockets any more. The solution that has been proposed by the European Commission for some time, and which is now supported by a large majority of member states, is to allocate to Kyiv the Russian funds that are frozen in the European bloc. However, there is one obstacle they cannot overcome: the opposition from Belgium.
The initiative has been controversial from the outset, and raises legal doubts in terms of international law, which is of particular concern to the Belgian government. The vast majority of this money, around 85%, is in a Brussels-based investment fund, Euroclear. And, for this reason, the executive led by Bart De Wever fears that his country will have to bear the potential economic and legal consequences.
Belgium refuses to support it and, so far, has not given in to pressure from Ursula von der Leyen and the vast majority of European partners. The same head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, admitted this Monday that the approval of the measure will be “difficult”. Nevertheless, the Belgian executive has lowered the tone against the measure and diplomatic sources point out that during the last few days it is no longer being discussed whether the initiative should be approved, but what the legislative text should be.
In this sense, this week is expected to be key to unlocking the initiative. This Monday the EU foreign ministers are in Brussels and the main European leaders are meeting with Volodymyr Zelenski in Berlin. Two meetings that must guide the initiative to be approved at the summit of heads of state and government of the European Union this Thursday. The president of the European Council, António Costa, has already warned that the leaders will not leave the table until an agreement is reached.
The most “credible” option to help Kyiv
Faced with Belgium’s reluctance, Von der Leyen has put two other options on the table: to issue more common debt at EU level or for each member state to increase bilateral aid to Ukraine. But neither alternative satisfies a majority of European partners. As insisted this Monday by the head of European diplomacy in the Council of Foreign Affairs of the EU, at the moment the “most credible” bet remains a first shipment of 90,000 million Russian euros to Ukraine out of the 210,000 that are in the European bloc.
The delivery of the Russian money would be in the form of a loan, and would be returned to the regime of Vladimir Putin in case it contributes to the reconstruction of Ukraine after the end of the war. This is one of the clauses that the European Commission argues guarantee that the initiative complies with international law.
But Belgium is not enough. He also fears that the courts will force the Belgian country to assume, for example, an eventual return of all this money on its own, despite the fact that the European Commission assures him that it would be assumed by the EU as a whole. In addition, the De Wever government has been concerned about threats and the fact that Moscow could take political reprisals, especially against Belgium. In fact, the Bank of Russia has already reported the Euroclear investment fund to Russian justice.
It should be remembered that the approval of the initiative does not require unanimity and can be processed with a qualified majority. Therefore, Belgium cannot veto the measure on its own. However, Brussels and the rest of the European partners prefer to count on the Belgian approval, both for a matter of a political message of unity and because they consider that it is better to favor the government of the country where most of the Russian money is frozen.
For this reason, diplomatic pressure on the Belgian government has intensified in recent days. Even, among other leaders, the chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, who at first had also expressed his legal doubts about the measure, traveled to Brussels to meet with De Wever and try to defuse the situation. With the same goal, EU member states last week agreed on a legal reform through an emergency mechanism to permanently block Russian funds. In this way, it is avoided that every six months the freezing has to be confirmed and that, therefore, the most pro-Russian partners, such as Hungary or Slovakia, oppose it taking into account the use they want to make now and unlock this money on a European scale.
The permanent blockade consists of a mere formality that paves the way for the sending of Russian funds to Kyiv and is one more way to put pressure on Belgium. In fact, everything points to the fact that the use of this money in Ukraine will come fully open at the summit of European leaders this Thursday, and diplomatic delegations in the EU anticipate long and hard negotiations to convince De Wever.
