De Wever responded to the letter from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, sent to the leaders of the 27 EU member states, concerning financial support for Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia. The letter outlined necessary assurances for Belgium about using frozen assets from the Russian central bank for a potential loan to Ukraine, following discussions held with De Wever on Friday.
During the Chamber session, De Wever emphasized that Belgium would “never agree” to this option without “strong guarantees” and “contractually defined risk coverage” from other member states and possibly third nations. He underscored the importance of covering “the entire amount and the entire risk” throughout the duration of the risk taken.
Among the two alternatives von der Leyen suggested for financing Ukraine, De Wever expressed a preference for the EU to collectively borrow from financial markets, using the European budget as collateral. He pointed out that the support for the other alternative, where member states would directly fund Ukraine, is “rather limited” among those countries.
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