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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged EU leaders to reach an agreement at a tense summit on Thursday as European Union leaders tried to end a standoff over whether to use frozen Russian assets to finance the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, who participated in the Brussels conference, said that reaching an agreement was the right thing to do and would allow Ukraine to continue fighting.
“As authorities confiscate money from drug traffickers and seize terrorist weapons, Russian assets should be used to defend against Russian aggression and rebuild what was destroyed by Russian aggression. It’s moral. It’s right. It’s legal,” he said.
Efforts to reach an agreement at the conference are seen as a critical test of the organization’s strength.
“We cannot fail. We must show that we are strong,” said EU official Kaja Kallas, adding that the leaders will stay in the conference for a long time if a solution is needed.
The EU sees Russia’s war as a threat to its security and wants to keep Ukraine funded and fighting.
Before the meeting to discuss the US proposal for peace in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the proposals against Europe and said that they are ‘unacceptable’ and said that his country is ready for war if Europe wants it.
With public funds across the EU already saddled with high levels of debt, the European Commission has proposed using frozen Russian bank assets largely stored in a Belgian clean house to secure a loan from Kyiv.
But Belgium is particularly concerned about being left at legal and financial risk, and other states including Italy have also expressed concern.
Eager to show strength
EU leaders who came to the conference said it was important to find a solution. They were also determined to show the strength and determination of European countries after US President Donald Trump last week called them “weak”.
“Now we have a simple choice – money today or blood tomorrow,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “All European leaders should finally rise to the occasion.”
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Tusk said the leaders agreed that they should work through loans rather than other methods, but he stressed that they have many technical discussions ahead of them.
US President Donald Trump criticized European countries for their handling of issues such as migration and the war in Ukraine in a sit-down interview with Politico. His comments did not go unnoticed, prompting a reaction from European leaders such as Pope Leo and former British ambassador Arthur Snell.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told his country’s parliament early Thursday that he had yet to see assurances addressing his concerns about legal and financial risks and that financial plans were still changing “as we speak.”
Russia’s central bank said the EU plans to use its assets are illegal and it has the right to use all available means to protect its interests. It sued Moscow this week seeking $230 billion ($316 billion) in damages for bailing out Euroclear.
The figures are high because without EU financial aid Ukraine will run out of money in the second half of next year and may lose the war with Russia, which the EU fears will bring closer the Russian threat to the bloc.
Kallas said he saw the possibility of a 50/50 property deal. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “My opinion is that we can reach an agreement.”
‘The only game in town’
The latest draft of the summit’s conclusion, which has not yet been agreed and is subject to significant change, suggests that leaders make a political decision to continue with the debt recovery, and task officials with working out the details “urgently”.
The draft document specifies that risks will be shared between EU states, among several conditions designed to guarantee Belgium and others.
Another option would be for the EU to borrow the required amount against the security of the EU budget and then lend the money to Ukraine.
But such a move would require consensus among the EU’s 27 countries and Moscow-friendly Hungary has already said it would oppose it.
Politicians say the use of Russian assets is therefore “the only game in town.”
But to use it, EU leaders first need to convince Belgium, which holds 185 billion euros ($298 billion Cdn) out of a total of 210 billion euros ($339 billion) frozen in Europe, that they will not foot the bill if Russia successfully sues in international courts about the plan.
