Belgium Wants Guarantees Before Approving $163 Billion Ukraine Loan

Belgium laid out a trio of demands on Oct. 23 that need to be met before immobilized Russian assets can be used to provide a 140 billion euro ($163 billion) loan to Ukraine.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said he would remain opposed to the loan until he secured all three of the guarantees.

Belgium is home to Euroclear, a financial market infrastructure group that holds the majority of frozen Russian assets in the European Union.

As much as $250 billion in Russian assets have been frozen in the EU since the United States and its allies banned transactions with Moscow’s central bank and its Ministry of Finance after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

“There’s the idea of confiscating them to give them to Ukraine,” De Wever told reporters as he arrived for the European Council summit in Brussels. “I’m looking for the legal basis for this decision.

“This [is] not a detail. Even during the Second World War, immobilized assets were never touched. So this is a very important step.”

De Wever went on to say that if the move were to go ahead, he would have three demands.

“I want the full mutualization of the risk, because there is a big risk,” he said. “We will suffer from enormous claims. So if you want to do this, we will have to do this all together.

“We want guarantees, if the money has to be paid back, that every member state will chip in. The consequences cannot only be for Belgium.

“The third demand is that every country who has immobilized assets moves together with us, because we are the only ones. Euroclear is the only financial institution that offers the windfall profits to Ukraine.

“We know that there are vast amounts of Russian money in other countries who have always been silent about this. If we move, we must move all together. That’s European solidarity.”

De Wever said that if those three demands, which he called “quite reasonable,” were not met, he would do everything in his power, legally and politically, to stop the move.

The prime minister issued a further note of caution to his European allies, saying that if they did seize the assets to fund Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin would respond in kind.

“You can look at the example of Google, which was declared bankrupt in Russia and seized, and that Russian jurisdiction is now being applied in other friendly jurisdictions to Russia,” he said.

“So the member states must understand that if they take Putin’s money, he will take our money back. Companies of European origin will be seized in Russia. Western frozen money that’s also in Russia will be seized. And maybe other countries friendly to Russia will do the same thing. So we must be careful that this does not backfire.”

However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is confident that European leaders will take steps forward in addressing the use of Russian frozen assets, despite De Wever’s worries.

“I share the Belgian prime minister’s concerns, but am confident we will take a step forward,” Merz said while arriving at the Brussels summit.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Belgium’s concerns over Russian frozen assets were being taken “very seriously,” but suggested that a solution was near.

“We have a solution on the table which is legally sustainable and takes Belgium’s concerns into account,” Orpo told reporters at the summit.

Until now, the EU has taken only interest generated from the immobilized Russian assets.

Although many within the EU have thrown their support behind the idea, several other member states, including Luxembourg and Hungary, and organizations such as the European Central Bank have also voiced concerns.

Moscow, meanwhile, warned that there would be a “painful response” should any of its assets be confiscated.

“Any actions with Russian assets without Russia’s consent are null and void under international and contractual law,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Oct. 23, according to the Russian state-funded news agency TASS. “There is no legal way to seize someone else’s funds without hurting the pockets and prestige of the expropriators.

“Any confiscatory initiatives from Brussels will inevitably result in a painful response.

“We will act in full compliance with the principle of reciprocity in international relations, based on our own interests and the need to compensate for the damage caused to Russia.”

Reuters contributed to this report.