Belgium blocks £122bn plan to save Ukraine

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1. Article contents:

   **Frozen Russian assets cannot be used to fund Kyiv’s resistance unless Belgians sign off on loan**

   *James Crisp, Europe Editor, 28 Nov 2025 – 01:30PM GMT*

   Belgium is blocking an EU plan to use €140bn of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine defend itself, arguing that it could derail a potential peace deal to end the war.

   Its support for the “reparation loan”, worth the equivalent of around £122bn, is vital because the sovereign assets are held by Euroclear, which is headquartered in Brussels.

   Belgium fears it would be liable for Russian legal action against the clearing house, which could in turn trigger a financial crisis.

   Bart De Wever, the Belgian prime minister, has refused to back the plan without cast-iron guarantees from the EU despite mounting pressure from other European leaders.

   It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky faces bad news from the front lines in the east of Ukraine, a corruption scandal and US demands that he signs a “land for peace” deal with Putin.

   Under the EU’s plan, the frozen Russian central bank assets in Europe would be lent to Ukraine for Kyiv to use for defence and regular budget needs.

   This would provide welcome respite for European governments, the biggest donors to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine would pay back the loan only when it received war reparations from Russia.

   Mr De Wever, a Flemish nationalist, wrote to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission (EC) president, setting out his objections in a letter on Thursday.

   He said: “Hastily moving forward on the proposed reparations loan scheme would have, as collateral damage, that we as EU are effectively preventing reaching an eventual peace deal.”

   Mr De Wever called the proposed reparations loan scheme “fundamentally wrong”, pointing out that, historically, a warring country’s immobilised assets had not been used until the conflict had ended, and then it was to pay reparations.

   He also repeated his concerns over legal liability in the event of Russian litigation, which Moscow has threatened.

   Sir William Browder, a British-American anti-Putin activist, thinks a deal will be done to release the funds to avoid the need for European soldiers to fight. He said the UK should take the same approach as the EU with the estimated £26bn of frozen Russian central bank assets in London.

   He told The Telegraph: “I think that Europe would rather lose money than people for as long as they can.”
   He said Belgium had a “very justified position” and the EU member states should agree to share any liability equally, but that it was unlikely Russia would win any litigation.

   Sir William added: “The Russians can scream bloody murder all they want. There’s no credible threat. It’s not like we have $300bn of our money held in the Russian central bank.”

   The EC will address Belgium’s concerns in draft legal proposals on Friday or at the weekend. Leaders including Emmanuel Macron of France and Friedrich Merz of Germany see the assets as rare European leverage in the negotiations between the US and Russia to try to end the war in Ukraine.

   European prime ministers and presidents backed the idea at an EU summit last month but could not get Belgium’s support. It was an embarrassing setback at a sensitive moment in the peace talks, and exposed how Europe had been sidelined.

   Brussels hopes the EU can come to an agreement on the issue at the next summit of the bloc’s leaders, on Dec 18 and 19.

   In addition to the immobilised funds held by Euroclear, an estimated €25bn of Russian assets are frozen in EU banks based elsewhere, mainly France and Luxembourg.

   Belgium has previously said other countries with Russian assets, including Britain, Canada, Japan and the US – all members of the G7 – should be included in the scheme. The issue of legal liability is particularly sensitive as Mr De Wever attempts to fix his country’s finances.

   After months of negotiations and crisis talks that began on Sunday morning and lasted until Monday morning, Belgium’s dysfunctional five-party coalition finally agreed a budget to cut its deficit. That was followed by a three-day national strike, as unions protested cuts and pension reforms.

2. Why is it always the right wing nationalists that do things that benefit Russia.

3. There will be no peace deal unless the Russian Army and maybe the Russian State collapses. And if the latter collapses, there will be no one left to sue, the then Post-Russian States will be busy among themselves.

4. Russian sovereign assets are held by Euroclear, which is headquartered in Brussels.

   “Belgium fears it would be liable for Russian legal action against the clearing house, which could in turn trigger a financial crisis.”

   And they’re right. Raiding those assets would violate international law.

   Maybe it’s time to ignore the law and raid those assets anyway, but that doesn’t change the facts. The headline isn’t really doing justice to what is really happening.

5. Clickbait. Ban this goon.

6. Read: the EU is pressuring Belgium into violating international law on its own, with absolutely no other country willing to share the risk.

   Belgium is right here, don’t be fooled.

7. Greed is a nasty thing

8. Grow some balls Belgium 

9. Of all the countries I’d think would be keenly aware of the importance of having other nations come to the aid of another following an unprovoked invasion, Belgium would be top of my list. Yet, here they are being more concerned about lawsuits. Fucking hell.

10. Meanwhile other countries refuse to use their own frozen russian assets for the same reasons as Belgium.

11. Russia has sized $50 billion in Western assets and the West is afraid of Russia suing them for seizing theirs?

    What a bunch of fucking pussies. We really have become a joke. Russia can essentially attack the West through its airspace violations, killing of Western nationals, and destroying European infrastructure but they still get considered for a day in court after all that.

12. Absolutely shameful and disgusting! Shameful on Belgium

13. The Belgians have forgotten history:

    During WWII, the Nazis invaded and occupied Belgium in 1940, which led to harsh German control over the country, including the forced labor of many Belgians and the rounding up of Jews for the Holocaust. The Nazis also annexed Eupen-Malmedy and committed atrocities against civilians, particularly during the initial invasion. The Belgian government in exile continued to fight the war from the United Kingdom alongside the Allies

14. It’s easy just to blame Belgium, but Europe is deciding not to do anything to help. Belgium is raising legitimate concerns about being stuck with massive future liabilities if legal ruling go against them after the war. Europe could be helping by committing to provide a backstop, and share any possible losses from negative judgments that might happen in the future.

    If Germany, France and the UK are all so certain giving the seized assets to Ukraine is perfectly legal, then why not just make a commitment to share any post war legal expenses with Belgium? If no one thinks there will be any legal repercussions then there is no risk in signing up to an insurance policy for Belgium.

15. there goes russian claim that Europe just doesn’t want the war to stop, so it keeps throwing money at it. On the other hand this is all that Russia wants, everything russian is poison, even money… putting EU governments in disarray and definitely not united…

16. Europe just cant get their shit together… i guess nothing is new about that…

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