Prime Minister Bart De Wever has insisted any liability for the proposed Ukraine \u201creparations loan\u201d be shared among bloc members<\/p>\n
Patience among EU members is \u201crunning thin\u201d over Belgium\u2019s refusal to approve a bloc-backed plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a multibillion-euro loan to finance Ukraine\u2019s war effort, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
\nThe Belgium-based Euroclear depository currently holds about \u20ac190 billion ($220 billion) in Russian sovereign funds, frozen by the EU. EU leaders and pro-Kiev governments have been attempting to force through a \u20ac140 billion ($160 billion) \u201creparations loan\u201d for Kiev by December, leveraging the frozen Russian assets.
\nRussia has denounced any attempt to repurpose its sovereign wealth as \u201ctheft.\u201d Skeptics, such as IMF chief Christine Lagarde, have warned that the move could undermine global trust in the EU\u2019s financial system.
\nSupporters of the plan argue it falls short of outright confiscation, claiming Moscow could eventually agree to repay the loan as part of a future peace settlement.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
ECB boss warns EU against seizing Russian assets<\/p>\n
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said last week that his country does not want to be solely responsible for the proposed obligation \u201cif it goes wrong,\u201d and has called for other EU nations to share the potential liabilities.
\n\u201cBelgium has spent three years saying Euroclear is Belgian and so are the benefits,\u201d one senior official told FT. \u201cNow, when it wants to share the risks, it claims Euroclear is European.\u201d Another source argued that the financial risks were \u201cprobably manageable.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no more low-hanging fruit,\u201d another EU diplomat told the newspaper, arguing that Brussels needs new funding sources for Ukraine. \u201cEveryone has to do what they can.\u201d
\nAccording to the FT, De Wever\u2019s reluctance frustrated several EU leaders during last week\u2019s Ukraine-focused summit in Copenhagen.
\nMoscow has accused the EU of sabotaging potential peace efforts, arguing that Kiev\u2019s backers would rather prolong the conflict than admit their strategy has failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Bart De Wever has insisted any liability for the proposed Ukraine \u201creparations loan\u201d be shared among bloc members Patience among EU members is \u201crunning thin\u201d over Belgium\u2019s refusal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t