{"id":457675,"date":"2025-12-19T11:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457675\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:52:12","slug":"eu-leaders-agree-on-90-billion-euro-loan-to-ukraine-after-a-plan-to-use-russian-assets-unravels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457675\/","title":{"rendered":"EU leaders agree on 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine after a plan to use Russian assets unravels"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets<\/a> to raise the funds.<\/p>\n

After almost four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027. The government in Kyiv is on the verge of bankruptcy, and desperately needs the money by spring.<\/p>\n

The plan had been to use some of the 210 billion euros ($246 billion) worth of Russian assets that are frozen in Europe, mostly in Belgium. <\/p>\n

The leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reassure Belgium that they would protect it from any Russian retaliation if it backed the \u201creparations loan\u201d plan, but as the talks bogged down the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,\u201d EU Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n

Not all countries agreed to the loan package. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic refuse to support Ukraine and opposed it, but a deal was reached in which they did not block the package and were promised protection from any financial fallout.<\/p>\n

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s closest ally<\/a> in Europe and describes himself as a peacemaker, said \u201cI would not like a European Union in war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo give money means war,\u201d said Orb\u00e1n. He also described the rejected plan to use the frozen Russian assets as a \u201cdead end.\u201d<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal was a major advance, saying that borrowing on capital markets \u201cwas the most realistic and practical way\u201d to fund Ukraine and its war efforts.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also hailed the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe financial package for Ukraine has been finalized,\u201d Merz said in a statement, noting that \u201cUkraine is granted a zero-interest loan.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThese funds are sufficient to cover the military and budgetary needs of Ukraine for the two years to come,\u201d Merz added. He said the frozen assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid war reparations to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that would cost over 600 billion euros ($700 billion). <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Russia does not pay reparations we will \u2014 in full accordance with international law \u2014 make use of Russian immobilized assets for paying back the loan,\u201d Merz said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy, who traveled to Brussels for a summit that took place during fiery protests<\/a> by farmers angry about a proposed trade deal with five South American countries, had appealed for a quick decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year. <\/p>\n

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned early on Thursday that it would be a case of sending \u201ceither money today or blood tomorrow\u201d to help Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The plan to use frozen Russian assets got bogged down as Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever rejected the scheme as legally risky, and warned that it could harm the business of Euroclear, the Brussels-based financial clearing house where 193 billion euros ($226 billion) in frozen assets are held.<\/p>\n

Belgium was rattled last Friday when Russia\u2019s Central Bank launched a lawsuit against Euroclear<\/a> to prevent any loan being provided to Ukraine using its money, which is frozen under EU sanctions slapped on Moscow after its launched its full-scale war in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the reparations loan was not a good idea,” De Wever told reporters after the meeting. \u201cWhen we explained the text again, there were so many questions that I said, I told you so, I told you so. There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe avoided stepping into a precedent that risks undermining legal certainty worldwide. We safeguarded the principle that Europe respects law, even when it is hard, even when we are under pressure,\u201d he said, adding that the EU “delivered a strong political signal. Europe stands behind Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

Still, Costa said that the EU “reserves its right to make use of the immobilized assets to repay this loan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS — European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":457676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209407,347,439,60,57,50,80,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-457675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-209407","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-financial-markets","11":"tag-financial-services","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-world","16":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115746094762085190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}