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littlemissmartypants

(31,041 posts) Fri Dec 5, 2025, 01:58 AM 14 hrs ago

With reparations loan for Ukraine, the EU defies both Putin and Trump

Source: Euro News

The European Union is drawing a line.

After being sidelined by the White House in direct negotiations with Russia over the fate of Ukraine, Europeans are looking to muscle their way back to the negotiating table.

One card they are yet to play is the €210 billion in assets of the Russian Central Bank that have been immobilised under EU sanctions since February 2022.

Under a scheme without precedent in modern history, the EU intends to channel the Russian assets into a zero-interest reparations loan to support Ukraine's financial and military needs for 2026, 2027 and possibly beyond.

Read more: https://l.euronews.com/wK3H

By Jorge Liboreiro
Published on 05/12/2025 - 7:00 GMT+1
The European Union is defying external pressure from Washington and Moscow to get a seat at the table by leveraging the immobilised Russian assets held in its jurisdiction. The move is bold, but carries many questions.

10 replies

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Highlight:

With reparations loan for Ukraine, the EU defies both Putin and Trump (Original Post) littlemissmartypants 14 hrs ago OP

Strongly recommended Drum 14 hrs ago #1

"The move ... faces many questions" BWdem4life 12 hrs ago #2

Well, SOMEBODY has to! calimary 12 hrs ago #3

It's about time... 2naSalit 9 hrs ago #4

True that!!!!!! oasis 9 hrs ago #5

This has not yet been agreed by the EU - only proposed by the Commission President muriel_volestrangler 7 hrs ago #6

HOORAY!!! Ignore Trump, it's all a show. Fla Dem 6 hrs ago #7

The marmalade shartcannon's midnight tweets will be entertaining because he painted himself into a corner Brother Buzz 8 min ago #10

Can't they just hand it over? niyad 2 hrs ago #8

There are, unfortunately, legal considerations to take into account Emrys 27 min ago #9

Drum

(10,518 posts)

1. Strongly recommended

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 02:09 AM

14 hrs ago

BWdem4life

(2,904 posts)

2. "The move ... faces many questions"

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 03:42 AM

12 hrs ago

You mean, like, "What took ya so long?"

calimary

(88,669 posts)

3. Well, SOMEBODY has to!

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 03:49 AM

12 hrs ago

2naSalit

(99,334 posts)

4. It's about time...

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 07:01 AM

9 hrs ago

And shouldn't be loans, they should just be given those funds since ruzzia perpetrated this massive crime, they should pay for all of the reparations.

oasis

(53,257 posts)

5. True that!!!!!!

Reply to 2naSalit (Reply #4)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 07:37 AM

9 hrs ago

muriel_volestrangler

(105,354 posts)

6. This has not yet been agreed by the EU - only proposed by the Commission President

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 08:47 AM

7 hrs ago

Ursula von der Leyen has offered sweeping guarantees for Belgium to agree to an unprecedented reparations loan for Ukraine. Belgian authorities say risks could be fatal. EU leaders will gather on 18 December to make a final decision. If no deal is found, the EU will resort to joint debt.

The European Commission will provide Belgium with sweeping guarantees to unblock a controversial reparations loan for Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen has said, forging ahead with the plan despite risks deemed "disastrous" by Belgian authorities.

The guarantees, outlined in legal texts presented on Wednesday, consist of bilateral contributions by member states, a backstop by the EU budget, legal safeguards against retaliation and a new prohibition on transferring sovereign assets back to Russia.

It is the boldest and most comprehensive attempt by the Commission to overcome Belgium's resistance before a crucial EU summit on 18 December. Ukraine has said it would need a fresh injection of foreign funding as early as spring next year.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/03/von-der-leyen-pushes-ahead-with-reparations-loan-for-ukraine-as-belgium-maintains-its-oppo

This morning:

EU leaders race to save Ukraine funding deal as Kyiv’s cash runs low

Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will meet the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, for emergency talks on Friday as the EU races to save its sorely needed financing plan for Ukraine.
...
Two weeks before a crucial 18 December EU summit, von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed two main options for the EU to raise the tens of billions of euros Ukraine needs to keep funding its struggling military and basic services against Russia’s war.
...
The frozen assets plan, floated almost two months ago, continues to be fiercely rejected by Belgium, which hosts about two-thirds of the estimated €290bn of Russian assets held in the west at Euroclear, a securities depository in Brussels.

“This is quite a big moment,” a diplomat from a founding member state said. “It’s never easy to reach agreement at 27, we know that. But if we can’t do something as existential as funds for Ukraine, we’ll really have failed – both us, and Ukraine.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/05/eu-leaders-ukraine-talks-funds

Fla Dem

(27,384 posts)

7. HOORAY!!! Ignore Trump, it's all a show.

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 09:55 AM

6 hrs ago

Brother Buzz

(39,405 posts)

10. The marmalade shartcannon's midnight tweets will be entertaining because he painted himself into a corner

Reply to Fla Dem (Reply #7)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 04:32 PM

8 min ago

He can’t afford to stop selling weapons to European NATO countries; the military-industrial complex would tear him a new and improved asshole!

niyad

(128,968 posts)

8. Can't they just hand it over?

Reply to littlemissmartypants (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 02:24 PM

2 hrs ago

Emrys

(8,850 posts)

9. There are, unfortunately, legal considerations to take into account

Reply to niyad (Reply #8)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 04:13 PM

27 min ago

Which is one excuse the Belgian government's been offering for not releasing the funds.

Other uses of seized Russian assets so far have involved drawing on the interest or providing security for loans.

When this whole horrible episode is over, there'll no doubt be a fuller accounting of what reparations Russia owes.

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