It has been the most discussed topic at this summit of the countries of the European Union, although the political entrustment of the 26 countries to the European Commission was only expected, Hungary already knew that it was not going to participate. The European Council has agreed to “address Ukraine's urgent financial needs for 2026-2027, including its military and defense efforts” and urges the Commission to present “as soon as possible financial support options based on an assessment of Ukraine's financing needs”. However, Belgium has managed to keep the text watered down and limit itself to the European Commission presenting options so that “this issue can be returned to at a future meeting”, without specifying a defined plan to finance Ukraine with frozen Russian assets.
The only thing the text alludes to is that “Russia's assets must remain frozen until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused by its war.” Belgium, the country where Euroclear, the depository company where 180 billion euros in frozen Russian assets are located, refuses to move forward if sufficient guarantees are not offered by the rest of the EU countries that they will jointly bear the risks.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, commented at the end of the summit that the issue of loans for repair is a complex issue. “There are points that have to be clarified. We are very clear about What, which is to finance loans to rebuild Ukraine, but we are not clear about How, which is where we have to work to make it possible.” Despite the doubts, Von der Leyen has assured that they will focus on “looking for options to find solutions regarding Russian immobilized assets.” For his part, the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, has indicated that “there have been no vetoes” regarding the frozen Russian assets, “there have only been technical issues that need to be worked on.”
Diplomatic sources explain that it has taken time to close this point of the negotiation because they have been working on drafting a paragraph to convince the representatives of the Belgian Government. All countries have admitted that there were legitimate legal issues, but that there were solutions to achieve a plan. Finally, Belgium's positions have prevailed.
Now the Commission has to work on a plan so that it is approved next December and the money begins to arrive in Ukraine in March 2026. The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, who was in Brussels this Thursday, meeting with the leaders of the 27, has seen his request fulfilled because he expected “a political decision that guarantees the financial needs of Ukraine for 2026 and 2027. Russia brought the war to Ukraine. our country and they have to pay for this war.”
The starting proposal is that the European Union would make a “tailored debt contract” with Euroclear with a 0% interest rate to ensure it can meet any potential court claims by Russia. In this way, the EU would make a loan to Ukraine on those assets that it would repay once Ukraine receives reparations from Russia for the damage suffered during the conflict.