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-oppoThis 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.
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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.
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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
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