After a summit of EU leaders, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever complained he had not received answers to all his concerns about a groundbreaking plan to issue a €140 billion loan to Ukraine.
Belgium held its ground during a summit of European Union leaders, preventing a breakthrough on an audacious plan to issue a €140 billion loan to Ukraine using the immobilised assets of the Russian Central Bank.
The bulk of the assets is held at Euroclear, a central securities depository in Brussels.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever raised the demands in exchange for his blessing, calling for the “full mutualisation” of financial risks and the provision of airtight guarantees from all member states. He also urged that Russian sovereign assets held in other European jurisdictions be added to the common pot.
“Who is going to give those guarantees? Is it the member states?” he said after the summit concluded. “Because the European Commission cannot oblige the member states to sign a guarantee.”
The main concern for the Belgian prime minister is Russian retaliation if Moscow demands its assets back and sanctions are undone.